LINCOLN'S 
BIRTHDAY 


UC-NRLF 


OOfl 


• 


®ur  Hmerican 


LINCOLN'S   BIRTHDAY 


Our  American  Holidays 


A  SERIES  of  Anthologies  upon  American 
•**•  Holidays,  each  volume  a  collection  of  wri 
tings  from  many  sources,  historical,  poetic,  re 
ligious,  patriotic,  etc.,  presenting  each  American 
festival  as  seen  through  the  eyes  of  the  repre 
sentative  writers  of  many  ages  and  nations. 

EDITED  BY 

EGBERT  HAVEN  SCHAUFFLER 

18mo.    Each  volume  $1.00  net 


NOW  READY 

THANKSGIVING  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

CHRISTMAS  MEMORIAL  DAY 

IN  PREPARATION 

WASHINGTON'S  BIRTHDAY    EASTER 
ARBOR  DAY  FLAG  DAY 

FOURTH  OF  JULY  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY 

MOFFAT,  YARD  &  COMPANY 
31  East  17th  Street    -     -     New  York 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


©ut   Bmcrican 


LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


A  COMPREHENSIVE  VIEW  OF  LINCOLN  AS 
GIVEN  IN  THE  MOST  NOTEWORTHY  ESSAYS, 
ORATIONS  AND  POEMS,  IN  FICTION 
AND  IN  LINCOLN'S  OWN  WRITINGS 


EDITED   BY 


ROBERT  HAVEN  SCHAUFFLER 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1909 


•7 

Sf 


Copyright,  1909,  by 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


t  Published,  January 5  1909 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE        ix 

INTRODUCTION xi 

I 
A  BIRDSEYE  VIE.W  OF  LINCOLN 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 3 

A  BRIEF  SUMMARY  OF  LINCOLN'S  LIFE 

Osborn  H.  Oldroyd  6 

II 
EARLY  LIFE 

LINCOLN'S  EDUCATION Horace  Greeley  15 

ABE  LINCOLN'S  HONESTY 17 

THE  BOY  THAT  HUNGERED  FOR  KNOWLEDGE  ....  18 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Florence  E.  Pratt  19 

YOUNG  LINCOLN'S  KINDNESS  OF  HEART 20 

A  VOICE  FROM  THE  WILDERNESS  .     .  Charles  Sumner  21 

CHOOSING  ABE  LINCOLN  CAPTAIN 22 

III 
MATURITY 

LINCOLN'S  MARRIAGE 31 

How  LINCOLN  AND  JUDGE  B—  SWAPPED  HORSES     .     .  33 

LINCOLN  AS  A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  .     .     .  H.  W.  Mabie  34 

LINCOLN'S  PRESENCE  OF  BODY 44 

How  LINCOLN  BECAME  A  NATIONAL  FIGURE 

Ida  M.  Tarbell  45-. 

LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  LITTLE  ONES 89 

How  LINCOLN  TOOK  HIS  ALTITUDE 90 


R51G03 


CONTENTS 

IV 
IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 

PAGE 

How  LINCOLN  WAS  ABUSED 95 

SONNET  IN  1862 John  James  Piatt  96 

LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT  .     .     .  James  Russell  Lowell  96 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Frank  Moore  109 

THE  PROCLAMATION  .     .     .  John  Greenleaf  Whittier  no 

THE  EMANCIPATION James  A.  Garfield  112 

THE  EMANCIPATION  GROUP  .  John  Greenleaf  Whittier  121 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  CHRISTMAS  GIFT    .    Nora  Perry  122 

V 

DEATH  OF  LINCOLN 

O  CAPTAIN  !  MY  CAPTAIN  !  .     .     .     .  Walt  Whitman  127 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  DEATH    .     .     .    Walt  Whitman  128 

HUSHED  BE  THE  CAMPS  TO-DAY    .     .    Walt  Whitman  134 
To  THE  MEMORY  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

William  Cullen  Bryant  135 

CROWN  HIS  BLOODSTAINED  PILLOW  .  Julia  Ward  Howe  136 

THE  DEATH  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN    .     Walt  Whitman  137 

OUR  SUN  HATH  GONE  DOWN     .     .     .     Phoebe  Gary  139 

TOLLING Lucy  Larcom  142 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Rose  Terry  Cooke  143 

EFFECT  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  LINCOLN 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  144 

HYMN Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  151 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Tom  Taylor  153 

VI 

TRIBUTES 

THE  MARTYR  CHIEF  ....  James  Russell  Lowell  159 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  ....  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  161 

WASHINGTON  AND  LINCOLN  .     .     .  William  McKinley  169 

LINCOLN Theodore  Roosevelt  170 

LINCOLN'S  GRAVE Maurice  Thompson  170 

TRIBUTES  TO  LINCOLN 173 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN H.  H.  Brownell  174 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

TRIBUTES 189 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN    .......   Joel  Benton  189 

ON  THE  LIFE-MASK  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Richard  Watson  Gilder  190 

LINCOLN George  H.  Boker  192 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN James  A.  Gar  field  193 

AN  HORATIAN  ODE    .     .     .     .     .     .    R.  H.  Stoddard  195 

SOME  FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  TO  LINCOLN 

Harriet  Bcccher  Stowe  202 

THE  GETTYSBURG  ODE Bayard  Taylor  211 

TRIBUTES 212 

LINCOLN  .......  Macmillan's  Magazine  214 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN R.  H.  Stoddard  215 

LINCOLN Edna  Dean  Proctor  215 

WHEN  LILACS  LAST  IN  THE  DOORYARD  BLOOM'D 

Walt  Whitman  218 

VII 

THE  WHOLE  MAN 

LINCOLN,  THE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE  .  Edwin  Markham  233 
LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

George  Bancroft  235 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Goldwin  Smith  276 

GREATNESS  OF  HIS  SIMPLICITY    .     .     .    H.  A.  Delano  278 

HORACE  GREELEY'S  ESTIMATE  OF  LINCOLN     ....  279 

LINCOLN /.  T.  Trowbridge  282 

THE  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN    .   B.  B.  Tyler  282 

To  THE  SPIRIT  OF  LINCOLN     .     .     .     .     R.  W.  Gilder  296 

LINCOLN  AS  A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN     .    Phillips  Brooks  297 

LINCOLN  AS  CAVALIER  AND  PURITAN     .    H.  W.  Grady  304 

LINCOLN,  THE  TENDER-HEARTED  .     .     .  H.  W.  Botton  306 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN  .     .     .  W.  H.  Herndon  307 

"WITH  CHARITY  FOR  ALL"    .     .     .     W.  T.  Sherman  317 

LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY Ida  V.  Woodbury  318 

FEBRUARY  TWELFTH M.  H.  Howliston  319 

Two  FEBRUARY  BIRTHDAYS 

L.  M.  Pladley  and  C.  Z.  Denton  323 


CONTENTS 

VIII 
LINCOLN'S  PLACE  IN  HISTORY 

PAGE 

THE  THREE  GREATEST  AMERICANS 

Theodore  Roosevelt  333 

His  CHOICE  AND  His  DESTINY    .     .     .   F.  M.  Bristol  333 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN     ....     Robert  G.  Ingersoll  334 

LINCOLN Paul  Laurence  Dunbar  341 

THE  GRANDEST  FIGURE Walt  Whitman  342 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN Lyman  Abbott  345 

"LINCOLN  THE  IMMORTAL" Anonymous  346 

THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  HERO  .     .     .  Frederic  Harrison  349 

LINCOLN John  Vance  Cheney  351 

MAJESTIC  IN  HIS  INDIVIDUALITY     .     .    S.  P.  Newman  353 

IX 
LINCOLN  YARNS  AND  SAYINGS 

THE  QUESTION  OF  LEGS 359 

How  LINCOLN  WAS  PRESENTED  WITH  A  KNIFE   .     .     .  360 

"WEEPING  WATER" 361 

MILD  REBUKE  TO  A  DOCTOR 362 

X 
FROM  LINCOLN'S  SPEECHES  AND  WRITINGS 

LINCOLN'S  LIFE  AS  WRITTEN  BY  HIMFF.T.F     ....  365 

THE  INJUSTICE  OF  SLAVERY 365 

SPEECH  AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE 368 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 37 1 

LETTER  TO  HORACE  GREELEY 3?6 

EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 378 

THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATION 380 

GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS 382 

REMARKS  TO  NEGROES  ON  THE  STREETS  OF  RICHMOND  383 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS      ........  384 


PREFACE 

An  astounding  number  of  books  have  been  writ 
ten  on  Abraham  Lincoln.  Our  Library  of  Con 
gress  contains  over  one  thousand  of  them  in  well- 
nigh  every  modern  language.  Yet,  incredible  as  it 
may  seem,  no  miner  has  until  to-day  delved  in  these 
vast  fields  of  Lincolniana  until  he  has  brought  to 
gether  the  most  precious  of  the  golden  words  writ 
ten  of  and  by  the  Man  of  the  People.  Howe  has 
collected  a  few  of  the  best  poems  on  Lincoln; 
Rice,  Oldroyd  and  others,  the  elder  prose  tributes 
and  reminiscences.  McClure  has  edited  Lincoln's 
yarns  and  stories;  Nicolay  and  Hay,  his  speeches 
and  writings.  But  each  successive  twelfth  of  Feb 
ruary  has  emphasized  the  growing  need  for  a  unifi 
cation  of  this  scattered  material. 

The  present  volume  offers,  in  small  compass,  the 
most  noteworthy  essays,  orations,  fiction  and  poems 
on  Lincoln,  together  with  some  fiction,  with  char 
acteristic  anecdotes  and  "  yarns  "  and  his  most  fa 
mous  speeches  and  writings.  Taken  in  conjunction 
with  a  good  biography,  it  presents  the  first  succinct 
yet  comprehensive  view  of  "  the  first  American." 
The  Introduction  gives  some  account  of  the  celebra 
tion  of  Lincoln's  Birthday  and  of  his  principal  biog 
raphers. 

ix 


NOTE 

The  Editor  and  Publishers  wish  to  acknowledge 
their  indebtedness  to  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company ; 
the  McClure  Company,  R.  S.  Peale  and  J.  A.  Hill 
Co. ;  Charles  Scribner's  Sons ;  Dana  Estes  Com 
pany;  Mr.  David  McKay,  Mr.  Joel  Benton,  Mr.  C. 
P.  Farrell  and  others  who  have  very  kindly  granted 
permission  to  reprint  selections  from  works  bearing 
their  copyright. 


INTRODUCTION 

Abraham  Lincoln,  sixteenth  President  of  the 
United  States,  was  born  at  Nolin  Creek,  Kentucky, 
on  Feb.  12,  1809.  As  the  following  pages  contain 
more  than  one  biographical  sketch  it  is  not  neces 
sary  here  to  touch  on  the  story  of  his  life.  Lin 
coln's  Birthday  is  now  a  legal  holiday  in  Connecti 
cut,  Delaware,  Illinois,  Minnesota,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  North  Dakota,  Pennsylvania,  Washing 
ton  (state)  and  Wyoming,  and  is  generally  observed 
in  the  other  Northern  States. 

In  its  inspirational  value  to  youth  Lincoln's 
Birthday  stands  among  the  most  important  of  our 
American  holidays.  Its  celebration  in  school  and 
home  can  not  be  made  too  impressive.  "  Rising  as 
Lincoln  did,"  writes  Edward  Deems,  "  from  social 
obscurity  through  a  youth  of  manual  toil  and 
poverty,  steadily  upward  to  the  highest  level  of 
honor  in  the  world,  and  all  this  as  the  fruit  of 
earnest  purpose,  hard  work,  humane  feeling  and 
integrity  of  character,  he  is  an  example  and  an  in 
spiration  to  youth  unparalleled  in  history.  At  the 
same  time  he  is  the  best  specimen  of  the  possi 
bilities  attainable  by  genius  in  our  land  and  under 
our  free  institutions." 

In  arranging  exercises  for  Lincoln's  Birthday 
the  teacher  and  parent  should  try  not  so  much  to 
teach  the  bare  facts  of  his  career  as  to  give  the 

xi 


xii  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

children  a  sense  of  Lincoln's  actual  personality 
through  his  own  yarns  and  speeches  and  such  ac 
counts  as  are  given  here  by  Herndon,  Bancroft, 
Mabie,  Tarbell,  Phillips  Brooks  and  others.  He 
should  show  them  Lincoln's  greatest  single  act  — 
Emancipation  —  through  the  eyes  of  Garfield  and 
Whittier.  He  should  try  to  reach  the  children  with 
the  thrill  of  an  adoring  sorrow-maddened  country 
at  the  bier  of  its  great  preserver;  with  such  a 
passion  of  love  and  patriotism  as  vibrates  in  the 
lines  of  Whitman,  Brownell  and  Bryant,  of 
Stoddard,  Procter,  Howe,  Holmes,  Lowell,  and  in 
the  throbbing  periods  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
His  main  object  should  be  to  make  his  pupils 
love  Lincoln.  He  should  appeal  to  their  national 
pride  with  the  foreign  tributes  to  Lincoln's  great 
ness;  make  them  feel  how  his  memory  still  works 
through  the  years  upon  such  contemporary  poets 
as  Gilder,  Thompson,  Markham,  Cheney  and 
Dunbar;  and  finally  through  the  eyes  of  Harrison, 
Whitman,  Ingersoll,  Newman  and  others,  show 
them  our  hero  set  in  his  proud,  rightful  place  in 
the  long  vista  of  the  ages. 

In  order  to  use  the  present  volume  with  the 
best  results  it  is  advisable  for  teacher  and  parent 
to  gain  a  more  consecutive  view  of  Lincoln's  life 
than  is  offered  here. 

The  standard  biography  of  Lincoln  is  the  monu 
mental  one  in  ten  large  volumes  by  Nicolay  and 
Hay,  the  President's  private  secretaries.  This  con 
tains  considerable  material  not  found  elsewhere, 
but  since  its  publication  in  1890  much  new  matter 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

has  been  unearthed,  especially  by  the  enterprise  of 
Miss  Ida  Tarbell,  whose  "  Life  "  in  two  volumes 
contains  the  essentials  of  the  larger  official  work, 
is  well  balanced,  and  written  in  a  simple,  vigorous 
style  perfectly  adapted  to  the  subject.  If  only  one 
biography  of  Lincoln  is  to  be  read,  Miss  Tarbell's 
will,  on  the  whole,  be  found  most  satisfactory. 

The  older  Lives,  written  by  Lincoln's  friends  and 
associates,  such  as  Lamon  and  Herndon,  make  up 
in  vividness  and  the  intimate  personal  touch  what 
they  necessarily  lack  in  perspective.  Arnold's  Life 
deals  chiefly  with  the  executive  and  legislative  his 
tory  of  Lincoln's  administration.  The  Life  by  the 
novelist  J.  G.  Holland  deals  popularly  with  his 
hero's  personality.  The  memoirs  by  Barrett,  Ab 
bott,  Howells,  Bartlett,  Hanaford  and  Power  were 
written  in  the  main  for  political  purposes. 

Among  the  later  works  there  stand  out  Morse's 
scholarly  and  serious  account  (in  the  American 
Statesmen  series)  of  Lincoln's  public  policy;  the 
vivid  portrayal  of  Lincoln's  adroitness  as  a  poli 
tician  by  Col.  McClure  in  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Men  of  War  Times;  Whitney's  Life  on  the  Cir 
cuit  with  Lincoln,  with  its  fund  of  entertain 
ing  anecdotes;  Abraham  Lincoln,  an  Essay  by 
Carl  Schurz ;  James  Morgan's  "  short  and  simple 
annals "  of  Abraham  Lincoln  The  Boy  and  the 
Man;  Frederick  Trevor  Hill's  brilliant  account  of 
Lincoln  the  Lawyer,  the  result  of  much  recent  re 
search;  the  study  of  his  personal  magnetism  in 
Alonzo  Rothschild's  Lincoln,  Master  of  Men;  and 
The  True  Abraham  Lincoln  by  Curtis  —  a  collec- 


xiv  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

tion  of  sketches  portraying  Lincoln's  character 
from  several  interesting  points  of  view.  Abraham 
Lincoln  The  Man  of  the  People  by  Norman  Hap- 
good  is  one  of  most  recent  and  least  conventional 
accounts.  It  is  short,  vigorous,  vivid,  and  intensely 
American. 

Among  the  many  popular  Lives  for  young  people 
are:  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Pioneer  Boy,  by  W.  M. 
Thayer;  Abraham  Lincoln,  The  Backwoods  Boy, 
by  Horatio  Alger,  Jr. ;  Abraham  Lincoln,  by 
Charles  Carleton  Coffin;  The  True  Story  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  The  American,  by  E.  S.  Brooks;  The 
Boy  Lincoln,  by  W.  O.  Stoddard;  and  —  most  im 
portant  of  all  —  Nicolay's  Boy's  Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

R.  H.  S. 


I 

A  BIRDSEYE  VIEW  OF  LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

The  following  autobiography  was  written  by  Mr. 
Lincoln's  own  hand  at  the  request  of  J.  W.  Fell  of 
Springfield,  111.,  December  20,  1859.  In  the  note  which 
accompanied  it  the  writer  says :  "  Herewith  is  a  little 
sketch,  as  you  requested.  There  is  not  much  of  it,  for 
the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  there  is  not  much  of  me." 

"  I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  Co., 
Ky.  My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia,  of 
undistinguished  families  —  second  families,  per 
haps  I  should  say.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my 
tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks, 
some  of  whom  now  reside  in  Adams  Co.,  and 
others  in  Mason  Co.,  111.  My  paternal  grand 
father,  Abraham  Lincoln,  emigrated  from  Rock- 
ingham  Co.,  Va.,  to  Kentucky,  about  1781  or  1782, 
where,  a  year  or  two  later,  he  was  killed  by  Indians, 
not  in  battle,  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was  laboring 
to  open  a  farm  in  the  forest.  His  ancestors,  who 
were  Quakers,  went  to  Virginia  from  Becks  Co., 
Pa.  An  effort  to  identify  them  with  the  New  Eng 
land  family  of  the  same  name  ended  in  nothing 
more  definite  than  a  similarity  of  Christain  names 
in  both  families,  such  as  Enoch,  Levi,  Mordecai, 
Solomon,  Abraham,  and  the  like. 

"  My  father,  at  the  death  of  his  father,  was  but 
3 


4  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

six  years  of  age,  and  grew  up  literally  without  any 
education.  He  removed  from  Kentucky  to  what  is 
now  Spencer  Co.,  Ind.,  in  my  eighth  year.  We 
reached  our  new  home  about  the  time  the  State 
came  into  the  Union.  It  was  a  wild  region,  with 
many  bears  and  other  wild  animals  still  in  the 
woods.  There  I  grew  up.  There  were  some 
schools,  so-called,  but  no  qualification  was  ever  re 
quired  of  a  teacher  beyond  '  readin',  writin',  and  ci- 
pherin',  to  the  rule  of  three.  If  a  straggler,  sup 
posed  to  understand  Latin,  happened  to  sojourn  in 
the  neighborhood,  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wiz 
ard.  There  was  absolutely  nothing  to  excite  ambi 
tion  for  education.  Of  course,  when  I  came  of 
age  I  did  not  know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could 
read,  write,  and  cipher  to  the  rule  of  three,  but  that 
was  all.  I  have  not  been  to  school  since.  The  lit 
tle  advance  I  now  have  upon  this  store  of  educa 
tion  I  have  picked  up  from  time  to  time  under  the 
pressure  of  necessity. 

"  I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  at  which  I  con 
tinued  till  I  was-  twenty-two.  At  twenty-one  I 
came  to  Illinois,  and  passed  the  first  year  in 
Macon  County.  Then  I  got  to  New  Salem,  at  that 
time  in  Sangamon,  now  Menard  County,  where  I 
remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a  store.  Then 
came  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  I  was  elected  a 
captain  of  volunteers  —  a  success  which  gave  me 
more  pleasure  than  any  I  have  had  since.  I  went 
into  the  campaign,  was  elected,  ran  for  the  Legisla 
ture  the  same  year  (1832),  and  was  beaten  —  the 
only  time  I  have  ever  been  beaten  by  the  people. 


LINCOLN'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY          5 

The  next  and  three  succeeding  biennial  elections  I 
was  elected  to  the  Legislature.  I  was  not  a  candi 
date  afterward.  During  the  legislative  period  I 
had  studied  law,  and  removed  to  Springfield  to 
practice  it.  In  1846  I  was  elected  to  the  Lower 
House  of  Congress.  Was  not  a  candidate  for  re 
election.  From  1849  to  I^54,  both  inclusive,  prac 
ticed  law  more  assiduously  than  ever  before.  Al 
ways  a  Whig  in  politics,  and  generally  on  the  Whig 
electoral  ticket,  making  active  canvasses.  I  was 
losing  interest  in  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  aroused  me  again.  What 
I  have  clone  since  then  is  pretty  well  known. 

"  If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought 
desirable,  it  may  be  said  I  am  in  height  six  feet 
four  inches,  nearly;  lean  in  flesh,  weighing,  on  an 
average,  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds;  dark 
complexion,  with  coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes  — 
no  other  marks  or  brands  recollected. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN." 


A  BRIEF  SUMMARY  OF  LINCOLN'S  LIFE 

BY  OSBORN  H.  OLDROYD 

From  "  Words  of  Lincoln  " 

The  sun  which  rose  on  the  1 2th  of  February, 
1809,  lighted  up  a  little  log  cabin  on  Nolin  Creek, 
Hardin  Co.,  Ky.,  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
that  day  ushered  into  the  world.  Although  born 
under  the  humblest  and  most  unpromising  circum 
stances,  he  was  of  honest  parentage.  In  this  back 
woods  hut,  surrounded  by  virgin  forests,  Abraham's 
first  four  years  were  spent.  His  parents  then 
moved  to  a  point  about  six  miles  from  Hodgens- 
ville,  where  he  lived  until  he  was  seven  years  of 
age,  when  the  family  again  moved,  this  time  to 
Spencer  Co.,  Ind. 

The  father  first  visited  the  new  settlement  alone, 
taking  with  him  his  carpenter  tools,  a  few  farm 
ing  implements,  and  ten  barrels  of  whisky  (the 
latter  being  the  payment  received  for  his  little 
farm)  on  a  flatboat  down  Salt  Creek  to  the  Ohio 
River.  Crossing  the  river,  he  left  his  cargo  in 
care  of  a  friend,  and  then  returned  for  his  family. 
Packing  the  bedding  and  cooking  utensils  on  two 
horses,  the  family  of  four  started  for  their  new 
home.  They  wended  their  way  through  the  Ken 
tucky  forests  to  those  of  Indiana,  the  mother  and 
daughter  (Sarah)  taking  their  turn  in  riding. 

6 


LINCOLN'S  LIFE  7 

Fourteen  years  were  spent  in  the  Indiana  home. 
It  was  from  this  place  that  Abraham,  in  company 
with  young  Gentry,  made  a  trip  to  New  Orleans 
on  a  flatboat  loaded  with  country  produce.  Dur 
ing  these  years  Abraham  had  less  than  twelve 
months  of  schooling,  but  acquired  a  large  experi 
ence  in  the  rough  work  of  pioneer  life.  In  the  au 
tumn  of  1818  the  mother  died,  and  Abraham  ex 
perienced  the  first  great  sorrow  of  his  life.  Mrs. 
Lincoln  had  possessed  a  very  limited  education, 
but  was  noted  for  intellectual  force  of  character. 

The  year  following  the  death  of  Abraham's 
mother  his  father  returned  to  Kentucky,  and 
brought  a  new  guardian  to  the  two  motherless  chil 
dren.  Mrs.  Sally  Johnson,  as  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
brought  into  the  family  three  children  of  her  own, 
a  goodly  amount  of  household  furniture,  and,  what 
proved  a  blessing  above  all  others,  a  kind  heart. 
It  was  not  intended  that  this  should  be  a  permanent 
home;  accordingly,  in  March,  1830,  they  packed 
their  effects  in  wagons,  drawn  by  oxen,  bade  adieu 
to  their  old  home,  and  took  up  a  two  weeks'  march 
over  untraveled  roads,  across  mountains,  swamps, 
and  through  dense  forests,  until  they  reached  a  spot 
on  the  Sangamon  River,  ten  miles  from  Decatur, 
111.,  where  they  built  another  primitive  home. 
Abraham  had  now  arrived  at  manhood,  and  felt  at 
liberty  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  battle  for  him 
self.  He  did  not  leave,  however,  until  he  saw  his 
parents  comfortably  fixed  in  their  new  home,  which 
he  helped  build;  he  also  split  enough  rails  to  sur 
round  the  house  and  ten  acres  of  ground. 


8  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1830,  memorable  to 
the  early  settlers  of  Illinois  as  the  year  of  the  deep 
snow,  Abraham  worked  for  the  farmers  who  lived 
in  the  neighborhood.  He  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  man  of  the  name  of  Offutt,  who  hired  him,  to 
gether  with  his  stepbrother,  John  D.  Johnson,  and 
his  uncle,  John  Hanks,  to  take  a  flatboat  loaded 
with  country  produce  down  the  Sangamon  River 
to  Beardstown,  thence  down  the  Illinois  and  Mis 
sissippi  rivers  to  New  Orleans.  Abraham  and 
his  companions  assisted  in  building  the  boat,  which 
was  finally  launched  and  loaded  in  the  spring  of 
1831,  and  their  trip  successfully  made.  In  going 
over  the  dam  at  Rutledge  Mill,  New  Salem,  111., 
the  boat  struck  and  remained  stationary,  and  a 
day  passed  before  it  was  again  started  on  its  voy 
age.  During  this  delay  Lincoln  made  the  acquaint 
ance  of  New  Salem  and  its  people. 

On  his  return  from  New  Orleans,  after  visiting 
his  parents, —  who  had  made  another  move,  to 
Goose-Nest  Prairie,  111., —  he  settled  in  the  little 
village  of  New  Salem,  then  in  Sangamon,  now 
Menard  County.  While  living  in  this  place,  Mr. 
Lincoln  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  in  1832, 
as  captain  and  private.  His  employment  in  the 
village  was  varied ;  he  was  at  times  a  clerk,  county 
surveyor,  postmaster,  and  partner  in  the  grocery 
business  under  the  firm  name  of  Lincoln  &  Berry. 
He  was  defeated  for  the  Illinois  Legislature  in 
1832  by  Peter  Cartwright,  the  Methodist  pioneer 
preacher.  He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in 
1834,  and  for  three  successive  terms  thereafter. 


LINCOLN'S  LIFE  9 

Mr.  Lincoln  wielded  a  great  influence  among  the 
people  of  New  Salem.  They  respected  him  for  his 
uprightness  and  admired  him  for  his  genial  and 
social  qualities.  He  had  an  earnest  sympathy  for 
the  unfortunate  and  those  in  sorrow.  All  con 
fided  in  him,  honored  and  loved  him.  He  had  an 
unfailing  fund  of  anecdote,  was  a  sharp,  witty 
talker,  and  possessed  an  accommodating  spirit, 
which  led  him  to  exert  himself  for  the  entertain 
ment  of  his  friends.  During  the  political  canvass 
of  1834,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
John  T.  Stuart  of  Springfield,  111.  Mr.  Stuart  saw 
in  the  young  man  that  which,  if  properly  de 
veloped,  could  not  fail  to  confer  distinction  on  him. 
He  therefore  loaned  Lincoln  such  law  books  as  he 
needed,  the  latter  often  walking  from  New  Salem 
to  Springfield,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  to  ob 
tain  them.  It  was  very  fortunate  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
that  he  finally  became  associated  with  Mr.  Stuart 
in  the  practice  of  law.  He  moved  from  New  Salem 
to  Springfield,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1837. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1842,  Mr.  Lincoln 
married  Miss  Mary  Todd  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  at 
the  residence  of  Ninian  W.  Edwards  of  Springfield, 
111.  The  fruits  of  this  marriage  were  four  sons; 
Robert  T.,  born  August  i,  1843;  Edward  Baker, 
March  10,  1846,  died  February  I,  1850;  William 
Wallace,  December  21,  1850,  died  at  the  White 
House,  Washington,  February  20,  1862;  Thomas 
("  Tad  "),  April  4,  1853,  died  at  the  Clifton  House, 
Chicago,  111.,  July  15,  1871.  Mrs.  Lincoln  died  at 
the  house  of  her  sister,  Springfield,  July  16,  1882. 


io  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  1846  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  to  Congress,  as 
a  Whig,  his  opponent  being  Peter  Cartwright,  who 
had  defeated  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  Legislature  in 
1832. 

The  most  remarkable  political  canvass  witnessed 
in  the  country  took  place  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  1858.  They  were  candi 
dates  of  their  respective  parties  for  the  United 
States  Senate.  Seven  joint  debates  took  place  in 
different  parts  of  the  State.  The  Legislature  be 
ing  of  Mr.  Douglas'  political  faith,  he  was  elected. 

In  1860  Mr.  Lincoln  came  before  the  country  as 
the  chosen  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  for 
the  Presidency.  The  campaign  was  a  memorable 
one,  characterized  by  a  novel  organization  called 
"  Wide  Awakes/'  which  had  its  origin  in  Hart 
ford,  Conn.  There  were  rail  fence  songs,  rail- 
splitting  on  wagons  in  processions,  and  the  build 
ing  of  fences  by  the  torch-light  marching  clubs. 

The  triumphant  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
place  in  November,  1860.  On  the  nth  of  Febru 
ary,  1 86 1,  he  bade  farewell  to  his  neighbors,  and 
as  the  train  slowly  left  the  depot  his  sad  face  was 
forever  lost  to  the  friends  who  gathered  that  morn 
ing  to  bid  him  God  speed.  The  people  along  the 
route  flocked  at  the  stations  to  see  him  and  hear  his 
words.  At  all  points  he  was  greeted  as  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  people,  and  such  he  proved  to  be.  Mr. 
Lincoln  reached  Washington  on  the  morning  of  the 
23rd  of  February,  and  on  the  4th  of  March  was 
inaugurated  President.  Through  four  years  of 
terrible  war  his  guiding  star  was  justice  and  mercy. 


LINCOLN'S  LIFE  n 

He  was  sometimes  censured  by  officers  of  the  army 
for  granting  pardons  to  deserters  and  others,  but 
he  could  not  resist  an  appeal  for  the  life  of  a 
soldier.  He  was  the  friend  of  the  soldiers,  and 
felt  and  acted  toward  them  like  a  father.  Even 
workingmen  could  write  him  letters  of  encourage 
ment  and  receive  appreciative  words  in  reply. 

When  the  immortal  Proclamation  of  Emancipa 
tion  was  issued,  the  whole  world  applauded,  and 
slavery  received  its  deathblow.  The  terrible  strain 
of  anxiety  and  responsibility  borne  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
during  the  war  had  worn  him  away  to  a  marked 
degree,  but  that  God  who  was  with  him  through 
out  the  struggle  permitted  him  to  live,  and  by  his 
masterly  efforts  and  unceasing  vigilance  pilot  the 
ship  of  state  back  into  the  haven  of  peace. 

On  the  I4th  of  April,  1865,  after  a  day  of  un 
usual  cheerfulness  in  those  troublous  times,  and 
seeking  relaxation  from  his  cares,  the  President, 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  a  few  intimate  friends, 
went  to  Ford's  Theater,  on  Tenth  Street,  N.  W. 
There  the  foul  assassin,  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  awaited 
his  coming  and  at  twenty  minutes  past  ten  o'clock, 
just  as  the  third  act  of  "  Our  American  Cousin  " 
was  about  to  commence,  fired  the  shot  that  took  the 
life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  bleeding  President 
was  carried  to  a  house  across  the  street,  No.  516, 
where  he  died  at  twenty-two  minutes  past  seven  the 
next  morning.  The  body  was  taken  to  the  White 
House  and,  after  lying  in  state  in  the  East  Room 
and  at  the  Capitol,  left  Washington  on  the  2ist  of 
'April,  stopping  at  various  places  en  route,  and 


12  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

finally  arriving  at  Springfield  on  the  3rd  of  May. 
On  the  following  day  the  funeral  ceremonies  took 
place  at  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery,  and  there  the  re 
mains  of  the  martyr  were  laid  at  rest. 

Abraham  Lincoln  needs  no  marble  shaft  to  per 
petuate  his  name;  his  words  are  the  most  endur 
ing  monument,  and  will  forever  live  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people. 


II 

EARLY  LIFE 


LINCOLN'S  EDUCATION * 

BY    HORACE   GREELEY 

Let  me  pause  here  to  consider  the  surprise  often 
expressed  when  a  citizen  of  limited  schooling  is 
chosen  to  fill,  or  is  presented  for  one  of  the  high 
est  civil  trusts.  Has  that  argument  any  founda 
tion  in  reason,  any  justification  in  history? 

Of  our  country's  great  men,  beginning  with  Ben 
Franklin,  I  estimate  that  a  majority  had  little  if 
anything  more  than  a  common-school  education, 
while  many  had  less.  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
Madison  had  rather  more ;  Clay  and  Jackson  some 
what  less;  Van  Buren  perhaps  a  little  more;  Lin 
coln  decidedly  less.  How  great  was  his  conse 
quent  loss?  I  raise  the  question;  let  others  decide 
it.  Having  seen  much  of  Henry  Clay,  I  confidently 
assert  that  not  one  in  ten  of  those  who  knew  him 
late  in  life  would  have  suspected,  from  aught  in 
his  conversation  or  bearing,  that  his  education 
had  been  inferior  to  that  of  the  college  graduates 
by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  His  knowledge 
was  different  from  theirs ;  and  the  same  is  true  of 
Lincoln's  as  well.  Had  the  latter  lived  to  be 
seventy  years  old,  I  judge  that  whatever  of  hesita 
tion  or  rawness  was  observable  in  his  manner 

1  By  permission  of  Mr.  Joel  Benton. 
15 


16  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

would  have  vanished,  and  he  would  have  met  and 
mingled  with  educated  gentlemen  and  statesmen  on 
the  same  easy  footing  of  equality  with  Henry  Clay 
in  his  later  prime  of  life.  How  far  his  two  flatboat 
voyages  to  New  Orleans  are  to  be  classed  as  edu 
cational  exercise  above  or  below  a  freshman's  year 
in  college,  I  will  not  say;  doubtless  some  freshmen 
learn  more,  others  less,  than  those  journeys  taught 
him.  Reared  under  the  shadow  of  the  primitive 
woods,  which  on  every  side  hemmed  in  the  petty 
clearings  of  the  generally  poor,  and  rarely  ener 
getic  or  diligent,  pioneers  of  the  Southern  Indiana 
wilderness,  his  first  introduction  to  the  outside 
world  from  the  deck  of  a  "  broad-horn  "  must  have 
been  wonderfully  interesting  and  suggestive.  To 
one  whose  utmost  experience  of  civilization  had 
been  a  county  town,  consisting  of  a  dozen  to  twenty 
houses,  mainly  log,  with  a  shabby  little  court-house, 
including  jail,  and  a  shabbier,  ruder  little  church, 
that  must  have  been  a  marvelous  spectacle  which 
glowed  in  his  face  from  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and 
the.  lower  Mississippi.  Though  Cairo  was  then 
but  a  desolate  swamp,  Memphis  a  wood-landing, 
and  Vicksburg  a  timbered  ridge  with  a  few  stores 
at  its  base,  even  these  were  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  sombre  monotony  of  the  great  woods.  The 
rivers  were  enlivened  by  countless  swift-speeding 
steamboats,  dispensing  smoke  by  day  and  flame  by 
night;  while  New  Orleans,  though  scarcely  one 
fourth  the  city  she  now  is,  was  the  focus  of  a  vast 
commerce,  and  of  a  civilization  which  (for 
America)  might  be  deemed  antique.  I  doubt  not 


ABE  LINCOLN'S  HONESTY  17 

that  our  tall  and  green  young  backwoodsman 
needed  only  a  piece  of  well-tanned  sheepskin  suit 
ably  (that  is,  learnedly)  inscribed  to  have  rendered 
those  two  boat  trips  memorable  as  his  degrees  in 
capacity  to  act  well  his  part  on  that  stage  which  has 
mankind  for  its  audience. 


ABE  LINCOLN'S  HONESTY 

From  "Anecdotes  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Lin 
coln's  Stories." 

Lincoln  could  not  rest  for  an  instant  under  the 
consciousness  that  he  had,  even  unwittingly,  de 
frauded  anybody.  On  one  occasion,  while  clerk 
ing  in  Offutt's  store,  at  New  Salem,  111.,  he  sold 
a  woman  a  little  bill  of  goods,  amounting  in 
value  by  the  reckoning,  to  two  dollars  six  and  a 
quarter  cents.  He  received  the  money,  and  the 
woman  went  away.  On  adding  the  items  of  the 
bill  again,  to  make  sure  of  its  correctness,  he 
found  that  he  had  taken  six  and  a  quarter  cents 
too  much.  It  was  night,  and,  closing  and  locking 
the  store,  he  started  out  on  foot,  a  distance  of  two 
or  three  miles,  for  the  house  of  his  defrauded  cus 
tomer,  and,  delivering  over  to  her  the  sum  whose 
possession  had  so  much  troubled  him,  went  home 
satisfied. 

On  another  occasion,  just  as  he  was  closing  the 
store  for  the  night,  a  woman  entered,  and  asked 
for  a  half  pound  of  tea.  The  tea  was  weighed  out 


i8  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY, 

and  paid  for,  and  the  store  was  left  for  the  night. 
The  next  morning,  Lincoln  entered  to  begin  the 
duties  of  the  day,  when  he  discovered  a  four-ounce 
weight  on  the  scales.  He  saw  at  once  that  he  had 
made  a  mistake,  and,  shutting  the  store,  he  took 
a  long  walk  before  breakfast  to  deliver  the  remain 
der  of  the  tea.  These  are  very  humble  incidents, 
but  they  illustrate  the  man's  perfect  conscientious 
ness  —  his  sensitive  honesty  —  better  perhaps  than 
they  would  if  they  were  of  greater  moment. 


THE  BOY  THAT  HUNGERED  FOR  KNOWL 
EDGE 

From  "  Anecdotes  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Lin 
coln's  Stories." 

In  his  eagerness  to  acquire  knowledge,  young 
Lincoln  had  borrowed  of  Mr.  Crawford,  a  neigh 
boring  farmer,  a  copy  of  Weems'  Life  of  Washing 
ton  —  the  only  one  known  to  be  in  existence  in  that 
section  of  country.  Before  he  had  finished  reading 
the  book,  it  had  been  left,  by  a  not  unnatural  over 
sight,  in  a  window.  Meantime,  a  rain  storm  came 
on,  and  the  book  was  so  thoroughly  wet  as  to 
make  it  nearly  worthless.  This  mishap  caused  him 
much  pain;  but  he  went,  in  all  honesty,  to  Mr. 
Crawford  with  the  ruined  book,  explained  the 
calamity  that  had  happened  through  his  neglect, 
and  offered,  not  having  sufficient  money,  to  "  work 
out "  the  value  of  the  book. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  19 

"  Well,  Abe,"  said  Mr.  Crawford,  after  due  de 
liberation,  "  as  it's  you,  I  won't  be  hard  on  you. 
Just  come  over  and  pull  fodder  for  me  for  two 
days,  and  we  will  call  our  accounts  even." 

The  offer  was  readily  accepted,  and  the  engage 
ment  literally  fulfilled.  As  a  boy,  no  less  than  since, 
Abraham  Lincoln  had  an  honorable  conscientious 
ness,  integrity,  industry,  and  an  ardent  love  of 
knowledge. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN1 

BY  FLORENCE  EVELYN  PRATT 

Lincoln,  the  woodsman,  in  the  clearing  stood, 

Hemmed  by  the  solemn  forest  stretching  round ; 
Stalwart,  ungainly,  honest-eyed  and  rude, 

The  genius  of  that  solitude  profound. 
He  clove  the  way  that  future  millions  trod, 

He  passed,  unmoved  by  worldly  fear  or  pelf ; 
In  all  his  lusty  toil  he  found  not  God, 

Though  in  the  wilderness  he  found  himself. 

Lincoln,  the  President,  in  bitter  strife, 

Best-loved,  worst-hated  of  all  living  men, 
Oft  single-handed,  for  the  nation's  life 

Fought  on,  nor  rested  ere  he  fought  again. 
With  one  unerring  purpose  armed,  he  clove 

Through  selfish  sin;  then  overwhelmed  with -care, 
His  great  heart  sank  beneath  its  load  of  love; 

Crushed  to  his  knees,  he  found  his  God  in  prayer. 

*From  The  Youth's  Companion. 


20  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

YOUNG  LINCOLN'S  KINDNESS  OF  HEART 
From  "  Anecdotes  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

An  instance  of  young  Lincoln's  practical  hu 
manity  at  an  early  period  of  his  life  is  recorded, 
as  follows:  One  evening,  while  returning  from 
a  "  raising "  in  his  wide  neighborhood,  with  a 
number  of  companions,  he  discovered  a  straying 
horse,  with  saddle  and  bridle  upon  him.  The  horse 
was  recognized  as  belonging  to  a  man  who  was  ac 
customed  to  excess  in  drink,  and  it  was  suspected 
at  once  that  the  owner  was  not  far  off.  A  short 
search  only  was  necessary  to  confirm  the  suspicions 
of  the  young  men. 

The  poor  drunkard  was  found  in  a  perfectly 
helpless  condition,  upon  the  chilly  ground.  Abra 
ham's  companions  urged  the  cowardly  policy  of 
leaving  him  to  his  fate,  but  young  Lincoln  would 
not  hear  to  the  proposition.  At  his  request,  the 
miserable  sot  was  lifted  to  his  shoulders,  and  he 
actually  carried  him  eighty  rods  to  the  nearest 
house.  Sending  word  to  his  father  that  he  should 
not  be  back  that  night,  with  the  reason  for  his 
absence,  he  attended  and  nursed  the  man  until  the 
morning,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  believing  that  he 
had  saved  his  life. 


FROM  THE  WILDERNESS  21 

A  VOICE  FROM  THE  WILDERNESS 

BY   CHARLES    SUMNER 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born,  and,  until  he  became 
President,  always  lived  in  a  part  of  the  country 
which,  at  the  period  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  was  a  savage  wilderness.  Strange  but 
happy  Providence,  that  a  voice  from  that  savage 
wilderness,  now  fertile  in  men,  was  inspired  to  up 
hold  the  pledges  and  promises  of  the  Declaration! 
The  unity  of  the  republic  on  the  indestructible 
foundation  of  liberty  and  equality  was  vindicated 
by  the  citizen  of  a  community  which  had  no  ex 
istence  when  the  republic  was  formed. 

A  cabin  was  built  in  primitive  rudeness,  and  the 
future  President  spilt  the  rails  for  the  fence  to  in 
close  the  lot.  These  rails  have  become  classical 
in  our  history,  and  the  name  of  rail-splitter  has  been 
more  than  the  degree  of  a  college.  Not  that 
the  splitter  of  rails  is  especially  meritorious,  but 
because  the  people  are  proud  to  trace  aspiring  talent 
to  humble  beginnings,  and  because  they  found  in 
this  tribute  a  new  opportunity  of  vindicating  the 
dignity  of  free  labor. 


22  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


CHOOSING  "  ABE  "  LINCOLN  CAPTAIN 

From  "  Choosing  '  Abe '  Lincoln  Captain,  and 
Other  Stories  " 

When  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out  in  Illinois 
about  1832,  young  Abraham  Lincoln  was  living 
at  New  Salem,  a  little  village  of  the  class  familiarly 
known  out  west  as  "  one-horse  towns,"  and  lo 
cated  near  the  capital  city  of  Illinois. 

He  had  just  closed  his  clerkship  of  a  year  in  a 
feeble  grocery,  and  was  the  first  to  enlist  under 
the  call  of  Governor  Reynolds  for  volunteer  forces 
to  go  against  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  of  whom  Black 
Hawk  was  chief. 

By  treaty  these  Indians  had  been  removed  west 
of  the  Mississippi  into  Iowa ;  but,  thinking  their  old 
hunting-grounds  the  better,  they  had  recrossed  the 
river  with  their  war  paint  on,  causing  some  trouble, 
and  a  great  deal  of  alarm  among  the  settlers. 
Such  was  the  origin  of  the  war;  and  the  handful 
of  government  troops  stationed  at  Rock  Island 
wanted  help.  Hence  the  State  call. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  twenty-three  years  old  at  that 
time,  nine  years  older  than  his  adopted  State.  The 
country  was  thinly  settled,  and  a  company  of  ninety 
men  who  could  be  spared  from  home  for  military 
service  had  to  be  gathered  from  a  wide  district. 
When  full,  the  company  met  at  the  neighboring 
village  of  Richland  to  choose  its  officers.  In  those 


CHOOSING  LINCOLN  CAPTAIN        23 

days  the  militia  men  were  allowed  to  select  their 
leaders  in  their  own  way ;  and  they  had  a  very 
peculiar  mode  of  expressing  their  preference  for 
captains.  For  then,  as  now,  there  were  almost  al 
ways  two  candidates  for  one  office. 

They  would  meet  on  the  green  somewhere,  and 
at  the  appointed  hour,  the  competitors  would  step 
out  from  the  crowds  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the 
ground,  and  each  would  call  on  all  the  "  boys  "  who 
wanted  Him  for  captain  to  fall  in  behind  him.  As 
the  line  formed,  the  man  next  the  candidate  would 
put  his  hands  on  the  candidate's  shoulder ;  the  third 
man  also  in  the  same  manner  to  the  second  man; 
and  so  on  to  the  end.  And  then  they  would  march 
and  cheer  for  their  leader  like  so  many  wild  men, 
in  order  to  win  over  the  fellows  who  didn't  seem 
to  have  a  choice,  or  whose  minds  were  sure  to  run 
after  the  greater  noise.  When  all  had  taken  sides, 
the  man  who  led  the  longer  line,  would  be  declared 
captain. 

Mr.  Lincoln  never  outgrew  the  familiar  nick 
name,  "  Abe,"  but  at  that  time  he  could  hardly  be 
said  to  have  any  other  name  than  "  Abe  " ;  in  fact 
he  had  emerged  from  clerking  in  that  little  corner 
grocery  as  "  Honest  Abe."  He  was  not  only  liked, 
but  loved,  in  the  rough  fashion  of  the  frontier  by 
all  who  knew  him.  He  was  a  good  hand  at  gun 
ning,  fishing,  racing,  wrestling  and  other  games; 
he  had  a  tall  and  strong  figure;  and  he  seemed  to 
have  been  as  often  "  reminded  of  a  little  story  "  in 
'32  as  in  '62.  And  the  few  men  not  won  by  these 


24  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

qualities,  were  won  and  held  by  his  great  common 
sense,  which  restrained  him  from  excesses  even  in 
sports,  and  made  him  a  safe  friend. 

It  is  not  singular  therefore  that  though  a  stranger 
to  many  of  the  enlisted  men,  he  should  have  had 
his  warm  friends  who  at  once  determined  to  make 
him  captain. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln  hung  back  with  the  feeling,  he 
said,  that  if  there  was  any  older  and  better  es 
tablished  citizen  whom  the  "  boys  "  had  confidence 
in,  it  would  be  better  to  make  such  a  one  captain. 
His  poverty  was  even  more  marked  than  his 
modesty;  and  for  his  stock  of  education  about  that 
time,  he  wrote  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  twenty-seven 
years  later: 

"  I  did  not  know  much ;  still,  somehow,  I  could 
read,  write,  and  cipher  to  the  rule  of  three,  but 
that  was  all." 

That,  however,  was  up  to  the  average  education 
of  the  community;  and  having  been  clerk  in  a 
country  grocery  he  was  considered  an  educated 
man. 

In  the  company  Mr.  Lincoln  had  joined,  there 
was  a  dapper  little  chap  for  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
labored  as  a  farm  hand  a  year  before,  and  whom 
he  had  left  on  account  of  ill  treatment  from  him. 
This  man  was  eager  for  the  captaincy.  He  put 
in  his  days  and  nights  "log-rolling"  among  his 
fellow  volunteers;  said  he  had  already  smelt  gun 
powder  in  a  brush  with  Indians,  thus  urging  the 
value  of  experience ;  even  thought  he  had  a  "  mar 
tial  bearing  " ;  and  he  was  very  industrious  in  get- 


CHOOSING  LINCOLN  CAPTAIN        25 

ting  those  men  to  join  the  company  who  would 
probably  vote  for  him  to  be  captain. 

Muster-day  came,  and  the  recruits  met  to  or 
ganize.  About  them  stood  several  hundred  rela 
tives  and  other  friends. 

The  little  candidate  was  early  on  hand  and  busily 
bidding  for  votes.  He  had  felt  so  confident  of  the 
office  in  advance  of  muster-day,  that  he  had  rum 
maged  through  several  country  tailor-shops  and 
got  a  new  suit  of  the  nearest  approach  to  a  cap 
tain's  uniform  that  their  scant  stock  could  furnish. 
So  there  he  was,  arrayed  in  jaunty  cap,  and  a 
swallow-tailed  coat  with  brass  buttons.  He  even 
wore  fine  boots,  and  moreover  had  them  blacked  — 
which  was  almost  a  crime  among  a  country  crowd 
of  that  day. 

Young  Lincoln  took  not  one  step  to  make  him 
self  captain ;  and  not  one  to  prevent  it.  He  simply 
put  himself  "  in  the  hands  of  his  friends,"  as  the 
politicians  say.  He  stood  and  quietly  watched  the 
trouble  others  were  borrowing  over  the  matter  as 
if  it  were  an  election  of  officers  they  had  enlisted 
for,  rather  than  for  fighting  Indians.  But  after 
all,  a  good  deal  depends  in  war,  on  getting  good 
officers. 

As  two  o'clock  drew  near,  the  hour  set  for  mak 
ing  captain,  four  or  five  of  young  Lincoln's  most 
zealous  friends  with  a  big  stalwart  fellow  at  the 
head  edged  along  pretty  close  to  him,  yet  not  in 
a  way  to  excite  suspicion  of  a  "  conspiracy."  Just 
a  little  bit  before  two,  without  even  letting  "  Abe  " 
himself  know  exactly  "  what  was  up,"  the  big  fel- 


26  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

low  stepped  directly  behind  him,  clapped  his  hands 
on  the  shoulders  before  him,  and  shouted  as  only 
prairie  giants  can,  "  Hurrah  for  Captain  Abe  Lin 
coln  ! "  and  plunged  his  really  astonished  candidate 
forward  into  a  march. 

At  the  same  instant,  those  in  league  with  him 
also  put  hands  to  the  shoulders  before  them,  pushed, 
and  took  up  the  cheer,  "  Hurrah  for  Captain  Abe 
Lincoln ! "  so  loudly  that  there  seemed  to  be  sev 
eral  hundred  already  on  their  side;  and  so  there 
were,  for  the  outside  crowd  was  also  already  cheer 
ing  for  "  Abe/' 

This  little  "  ruse  "  of  the  Lincoln  "  boys  "  proved 
a  complete  success.  "  Abe  "  had  to  march,  whether 
or  no,  to  the  music  of  their  cheers ;  he  was  truly 
"  in  the  hands  of  his  friends  "  then,  and  couldn't 
get  away;  and  it  must  be  said  he  didn't  seem  to 
feel  very  bad  over  the  situation.  The  storm  of 
cheers  and  the  sight  of  tall  Abraham  (six  feet  and 
four  inches)  at  the  head  of  the  marching  column, 
before  the  fussy  little  chap  in  brass  buttons  who 
was  quite  ready,  caused  a  quick  stampede  even 
among  the  boys  who  intended  to  vote  for  the  little 
fellow.  One  after  another  they  rushed  for  a  place 
in  "  Captain  Abe's  "  line  as  though  to  be  first  to 
fall  in  was  to  win  a  prize. 

A  few  rods  away  stood  that  suit  of  captain's 
clothes  alone,  looking  smaller  than  ever,  "  the 
starch  all  taken  out  of  'em,"  their  occupant  con 
founded,  and  themselves  for  sale.  "  Abe's "  old 
"  boss  "  said  he  was  "  astonished,"  and  so  he  had 
good  reason  to  be,  but  everybody  could  see  it  with- 


CHOOSING  LINCOLN  CAPTAIN        27 

out  his  saying  so.  His  "  style "  couldn't  win 
among  the  true  and  shrewd,  though  unpolished 
"  boys "  in  coarse  garments.  They  saw  right 
through  him. 

"  Buttons,"  as  he  became 'known  from  that  day, 
was  the  last  man  to  fall  into  "  Abe's  "  line ;  he  said 
he'd  make  it  unanimous. 

But  his  experience  in  making  "  Abe "  Captain 
made  himself  so  sick  that  he  wasn't  "  able "  to 
move  when  the  company  left  for  the  "  front," 
though  he  soon  grew  able  to  move  out  of  the  pro 
cession. 

Thus  was  "  Father  Abraham,"  so  young  as 
twenty-three,  chosen  captain  of  a  militia  company 
over  him  whose  abused,  hired-hand  he  had  been. 
It  is  little  wonder  that  in  '59  after  three  elections 
to  the  State  Legislature  and  one  to  Congress,  Mr. 
Lincoln  should  write  of  his  early  event  as  "  a  suc 
cess  which  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  any  I  have 
had  since."  The  war  was  soon  over  with  but  little 
field  work  for  the  volunteers;  but  no  private  was 
known  to  complain  that  "  Abe  "  was  not  a  good 
captain. 


Ill 

MATURITY 


LINCOLN'S  MARRIAGE  —  A  PEEP  INTO 
LINCOLN'S  SOCIAL  LIFE 

In  1842,  in  his  thirty-third  year,  Mr.  Lincoln 
married  Miss  Mary  Todd,  a  daughter  of  Hon. 
Robert  S.  Todd,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  The 
marriage  took  place  in  Springfield,  where  the  lady 
had  for  several  years  resided,  on  the  fourth  of 
November  of  the  year  mentioned.  It  is  probable 
that  he  married  as  early  as  the  circumstances  of 
his  life  permitted,  for  he  had  always  loved  the 
society  of  women,  and  possessed  a  nature  that  took 
profound  delight  in  intimate  female  companionship. 
A  letter  written  on  the  eighteenth  of  May  follow 
ing  his  marriage,  to  J.  F.  Speed,  Esq.,  of  Louis 
ville,  Kentucky,  an  early  and  a  life-long  personal 
friend,  gives  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  his  domestic 
arrangements  at  this  time.  "  We  are  not  keeping 
house,"  Mr.  Lincoln  says  in  his  letter,  "  but  board 
ing  at  the  Globe  Tavern,  which  is  very  well  kept 
now  by  a  widow  lady  of  the  name  of  Beck.  Our 
rooms  are  the  same  Dr.  Wallace  occupied  there, 
and  boarding  only  costs  four  dollars  a  week. 
I  most  heartily  wish  you  and  your  Fanny 
would  not  fail  to  come.  Just  let  us  know  the  time, 
a  week  in  advance,  and  we  will  have  a  room  pre 
pared  for  you,  and  we'll  all  be  merry  together  for 
awhile."  He  seems  to  have  been  in  excellent  spirits, 
and  to  have  been  very  hearty  in  the  enjoyment  of 
31 


32  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

his  new  relation.  The  private  letters  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  were  charmingly  natural  and  sincere.  His 
personal  friendships  were  the  sweetest  sources  of 
his  happiness. 

To  a  particular  friend,  he  wrote  February  25, 
1842 :  "  Yours  of  the  sixteenth,  announcing  that 

Miss  and  you  '  are  no  longer  twain,  but  one 

flesh/  reached  me  this  morning.  I  have  no  way 
of  telling  you  how  much  happiness  I  wish  you 
both,  though  I  believe  you  both  can  conceive  it. 
I  feel  somewhat  jealous  of  both  of  you  now,  for  you 
will  be  so  exclusively  concerned  for  one  another 
that  I  shall  be  forgotten  entirely.  My  acquaintance 

with  Miss  (I  call  her  thus  lest  you  should 

think  I  am  speaking  of  your  mother),  was  too 
short  for  me  to  reasonably  hope  to  be  long  remem 
bered  by  her ;  and  still  I  am  sure  I  shall  not  forget 
her  soon.  Try  if  you  can  not  remind  her  of  that 
debt  she  owes  me,  and  be  sure  you  do  not  inter 
fere  to  prevent  her  paying  it. 

"  I  regret  to  learn  that  you  have  resolved  not  to 
return  to  Illinois.  I  shall  be  very  lonesome  with 
out  you.  How  miserably  things  seem  to  be  ar 
ranged  in  this  world!  If  we  have  no  friends  we 
have  no  pleasure;  and  if  we  have  them,  we  are 
sure  to  lose  them,  and  be  doubly  pained  by  the 
loss.  I  did  hope  she  and  you  would  make  your 
home  here,  yet  I  own  I  have  no  right  to  insist. 
You  owe  obligations  to  her  ten  thousand  times  more 
sacred  than  any  you  can  owe  to  others,  and  in 
that  light  let  them  be  respected  and  observed.  It 
is  natural  that  she  should  desire  to  remain  with 


LINCOLN  AND  JUDGE  B 33 

her  relations  and  friends.  As  to  friends,  she  could 
not  need  them  anywhere  —  she  would  have  them 
in  abundance  here.  Give  my  kind  regards  to  Mr. 

and  his  family,  particularly  to  Miss  E.     Also 

to  your   mother,   brothers   and  sisters.     Ask  little 

E.  D.  if  she  will  ride  to  town  with  me  if  I 

come  there  again.    And,  finally,  give a  double 

reciprocation  of  all  the  love  she  sent  me.  Write 
me  often,  and  believe  me,  yours  forever, 

LINCOLN. 


HOW  LINCOLN  AND  JUDGE  B SWAP 
PED  HORSES 

From  "  Anecdotes  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  lawyer  in  Illinois, 
he  and  a  certain  Judge  once  got  to  bantering  one 
another  about  trading  horses ;  and  it  was  agreed 
that  the  next  morning  at  9  o'clock  they  should  make 
a  trade,  the  horses  to  be  unseen  up  to  that  hour, 
and  no  backing  out,  under  a  forfeiture  of  $25. 

At  the  hour  appointed  the  Judge  came  up,  lead 
ing  the  sorriest-looking  specimen  of  a  horse  ever 
seen  in  those  parts.  In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was  seen  approaching  with  a  wooden  saw- 
horse  upon  his  shoulders.  Great  were  the  shouts 
and  the  laughter  of  the  crowd,  and  both  were 
greatly  increased  when  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  surveying 
the  Judge's  animal,  set  down  his  saw-horse,  and 
exclaimed :  "  Well,  Judge,  this  is  the  first  time  I 
ever  got  the  worst  of  it  in  a  horse  trade." 


34  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  A  MAN  OF 
LETTERS  * 

BY    HAMILTON     WRIGHT    MABIE 

From  "  Warner's  Library  of  the  World's  Best  Lit 
erature." 

Born  in  1809  and  dying  in  1865,  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
the  contemporary  of  every  distinguished  man  of 
letters  in  America  to  the  close  of  the  war ;  but  from 
none  of  them  does  he  appear  to  have  received 
literary  impulse  or  guidance.  He  might  have  read, 
if  circumstances  had  been  favorable,  a  large  part 
of  the  work  of  Irving,  Bryant,  Poe,  Hawthorne, 
Emerson,  Lowell,  Whittier,  Holmes,  Longfellow, 
and  Thoreau,  as  it  came  from  the  press ;  but  he 
was  entirely  unfamiliar  with  it  apparently  until 
late  in  his  career  and  it  is  doubtful  if  even  at  that 
period  he  knew  it  well  or  cared  greatly  for  it.  He 
was  singularly  isolated  by  circumstances  and  by 
temperament  from  those  influences  which  usually 
determine,  within  certain  limits,  the  quality  and 
character  of  a  man's  style. 

And  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  style, —  a  distinctive,  in 
dividual,  characteristic  form  of  expression.  In  his 
own  way  he  gained  an  insight  into  the  structure 
of  English,  and  a  freedom  and  skill  in  the  selection 
and  combination  of  words,  which  not  only  made  him 
the  most  convincing  speaker  of  his  time,  but  which 
have  secured  for  his  speeches  a  permanent  place 

1  By  permission  of  R.  S.  Peak  and  7.  A.  Hill  Co. 


A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  35 

in  literature.  One  of  those  speeches  is  already 
known  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken ; 
it  is  a  classic  by  virtue  not  only  of  its  unique  con 
densation  of  the  sentiment  of  a  tremendous  strug 
gle  into  the  narrow  compass  of  a  few  brief  para 
graphs,  but  by  virtue  of  that  instinctive  felicity  of 
style  which  gives  to  the  largest  thought  the  beauty 
of  perfect  simplicity.  The  two  Inaugural  Ad 
dresses  are  touched  by  the  same  deep  feeling,  the 
same  large  vision,  the  same  clear,  expressive  and 
persuasive  eloquence ;  and  these  qualities  are  found 
in  a  great  number  of  speeches,  from  Mr.  Lincoln's 
first  appearance  in  public  life.  In  his  earliest  ex 
pressions  of  his  political  views  there  is  less  range; 
but  there  is  the  structural  order,  clearness,  sense 
of  proportion,  ease,  and  simplicity  which  give 
classic  quality  to  the  later  utterances.  Few 
speeches  have  so  little  of  what  is  commonly  re 
garded  as  oratorial  quality;  few  have  approached 
so  constantly  the  standards  and  character  of  litera 
ture.  While  a  group  of  men  of  gift  and  oppor 
tunity  in  the  East  were  giving  American  literature 
its  earliest  direction,  and  putting  the  stamp  of  a 
high  idealism  on  its  thought  and  a  rare  refinement 
of  spirit  on  its  form,  this  lonely,  untrained  man 
on  the  old  frontier  was  slowly  working  his  way 
through  the  hardest  and  rudest  conditions  to  per 
haps  the  foremost  place  in  American  history,  and 
forming  at  the  same  time  a  style  of  singular  and 
persuasive  charm. 

There  is,  however,  no  possible  excellence  with 
out  adequate  education ;  no  possible  mastery  of  any 


36  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

art  without  thorough  training.  Mr.  Lincoln  has 
sometimes  been  called  an  accident,  and  his  literary 
gift  an  unaccountable  play  of  nature ;  but  few  men 
have  ever  more  definitely  and  persistently  worked 
out  what  was  in  them  by  clear  intelligence  than 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  no  speaker  or  writer  of  our  time 
has,  according  to  his  opportunities,  trained  himself 
more  thoroughly  in  the  use  of  English  prose.  Of 
educational  opportunity  in  the  scholastic  sense,  the 
future  orator  had  only  the  slightest.  He  went  to 
school  "  by  littles,"  and  these  "  littles  "  put  together 
aggregated  less  than  a  year;  but  he  discerned  very 
early  the  practical  uses  of  knowledge,  and  set  him 
self  to  acquire  it.  This  pursuit  soon  became  a  pas 
sion,  and  this  deep  and  irresistible  yearning  did 
more  for  him  perhaps  than  richer  opportunities 
would  have  done.  It  made  him  a  constant  student, 
and  it  taught  him  the  value  of  fragments  of  time. 
"  He  was  always  at  the  head  of  his  class,"  writes 
one  of  his  schoolmates,  "  and  passed  us  rapidly  in 
his  studies.  He  lost  no  time  at  home,  and  when 
he  was  not  at  work  was  at  his  books.  He  kept  up 
his  studies  on  Sunday,  and  carried  his  books  with 
him  to  work,  so  that  he  might  read  when  he  rested 
from  labor."  "  I  induced  my  husband  to  permit 
Abe  to  read  and  study  at  home  as  well  as  at  school," 
writes  his  stepmother.  "  At  first  he  was  not  easily 
reconciled  to  it,  but  finally  he  too  seemed  willing 
to  encourage  him  to  a  certain  extent.  Abe  was  a 
dutiful  son  to  me  always,  and  we  took  particular 
care  when  he  was  reading  not  to  disturb  him, — 


A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  37 

would  let  him  read  on  and  on  until  he  quit  of  his 
own  accord." 

The  books  within  his  reach  were  few,  but  they 
were  among  the  best.  First  and  foremost  was  that 
collection  of  literature  in  prose  and  verse,  the  Bible : 
a  library  of  sixty-six  volumes,  presenting  nearly 
every  literary  form,  and  translated  at  the  fortunate 
moment  when  the  English  language  had  received 
the  recent  impress  of  its  greatest  masters  of  the 
speech  of  the  imagination.  This  literature  Mr. 
Lincoln  knew  intimately,  familiarly,  fruitfully;  as 
Shakespeare  knew  it  in  an  earlier  version,  and  as 
Tennyson  knew  it  and  was  deeply  influenced  by  it  in 
the  form  in  which  it  entered  into  and  trained  Lin 
coln's  imagination.  Then  there  was  that  wise  and 
very  human  text-book  of  the  knowledge  of  char 
acter  and  life,  "  ^Esop's  Fables  " ;  that  masterpiece 
of  clear  presentation,  "  Robinson  Crusoe " ;  and 
that  classic  of  pure  English,  "  The  Pilgrim's  Prog 
ress."  These  four  books  —  in  the  hands  of  a  medi 
tative  boy,  who  read  until  the  last  ember  went  out 
on  the  hearth,  began  again  when  the  earliest  light 
reached  his  bed  in  the  loft  of  the  log  cabin,  who 
perched  himself  on  a  stump,  book  in  hand,  at  the 
end  of  every  furrow  in  the  plowing  season  —  con 
tained  the  elements  of  a  movable  university. 

To  these  must  be  added  many  volumes  borrowed 
from  more  fortunate  neighbors ;  for  he  had  "  read 
through  every  book  he  had  heard  of  in  that  coun 
try,  for  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles."  A  history  of  the 
United  States  and  a  copy  of  Weems's  "  Life  of 


38  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Washington  "  laid  the  foundations  of  his  political 
education.  That  he  read  with  his  imagination  as 
well  as  with  his  eyes  is  clear  from  certain  words 
spoken  in  the  Senate  Chamber  at  Trenton  in  1861. 
"  May  I  be  pardoned,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  if  on 
this  occasion  I  mention  that  way  back  in  my  child 
hood,  the  earliest  days  of  my  being  able  to  read,  I 
got  hold  of  a  small  book,  such  a  one  as  few  of  the 
members  have  ever  seen, —  Weems's  '  Life  of  Wash 
ington.'  I  remember  all  the  accounts  there  given 
of  the  battle-fields  and  struggles  for  the  liberties 
of  the  country;  and  none  fixed  themselves  upon 
my  imagination  so  deeply  as  the  struggle  here  at 
Trenton,  New  Jersey.  The  crossing  of  the  river, 
the  contest  with  the  Hessians,  the  great  hardships 
endured  at  that  time, —  all  fixed  themselves  on  my 
memory  more  than  any  single  Revolutionary  event ; 
and  you  all  know,  for  you  have  all  been  boys,  how 
those  early  impressions  last  longer  than  any  others." 
"  When  Abe  and  I  returned  to  the  house  from 
work,"  writes  John  Hanks,  "  he  would  go  to  the 
cupboard,  snatch  a  piece  of  corn  bread,  sit  down, 
take  a  book,  cock  his  legs  up  as  high  as  his  head, 
and  read.  We  grubbed,  plowed,  weeded,  and 
worked  together  barefooted  in  the  field.  When 
ever  Abe  had  a  chance  in  the  field  while  at  work, 
or  at  the  house,  he  would  stop  and  read."  And 
this  habit  was  kept  up  until  Mr.  Lincoln  had  found 
both  his  life  work  and  his  individual  expression. 
Later  he  devoured  Shakespeare  and  Burns ;  and  the 
poetry  of  these  masters  of  the  dramatic  and  lyric 
form,  sprung  like  himself  from  the  common  soil, 


A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  39 

and  like  him  self-trained  and  directed,  furnished  a 
kind  of  running  accompaniment  to  his  work  and 
his  play.  What  he  read  he  not  only  held  tena 
ciously,  but  took  into  his  imagination  and  incor 
porated  into  himself.  His  familiar  talk  was  en 
riched  with  frequent  and  striking  illustrations  from 
the  Bible  and  "  yEsop's  Fables." 

This  passion  for  knowledge  and  for  companion 
ship  with  the  great  writers  would  have  gone  for 
nothing,  so  far  as  the  boy's  training  in  expression 
was  concerned,  if  he  had  contented  himself  with 
acquisition ;  but  he  turned  everything  to  account. 
He  was  as  eager  for  expression  as  for  the  material 
of  expression ;  more  eager  to  write  and  to  talk  than 
to  read.  Bits  of  paper,  stray  sheets,  even  boards 
served  his  purpose.  He  was  continually  transcrib 
ing  with  his  own  hand  thoughts  or  phrases  which 
had  impressed  him.  Everything  within  reach  bore 
evidence  of  his  passion  for  reading,  and  for  writ 
ing  as  well.  The  flat  sides  of  logs,  the  surface  of 
the  broad  wooden  shovel,  everything  in  his  vicinity 
which  could  receive  a  legible  mark,  was  covered 
with  his  figures  and  letters.  He  was  studying  ex 
pression  quite  as  intelligently  as  he  was  searching 
for  thought.  Years  afterwards,  when  asked  how 
he  had  attained  such  extraordinary  clearness  of 
style,  he  recalled  his  early  habit  of  retaining  in  his 
memory  words  or  phrases  overheard  in  ordinary 
conversation  or  met  in  books  and  newspapers,  until 
night,  meditating  on  them  until  he  got  at  their 
meaning,  and  then  translating  them  into  his  own 
simpler  speech.  This  habit,  kept  up  for  years,  was 


40  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  best  possible  training  for  the  writing  of  such 
English  as  one  finds  in  the  Bible  and  in  "  The 
Pilgrim's  Progress."  His  self-education  in  the  art 
of  expression  soon  bore  fruit  in  a  local  reputation 
both  as  a  talker  and  a  writer.  His  facility  in  rhyme 
and  essay-writing  was  not  only  greatly  admired  by 
his  fellows,  but  awakened  great  astonishment,  be 
cause  these  arts  were  not  taught  in  the  neighbor 
ing  schools. 

In  speech  too  he  was  already  disclosing  that  com 
mand  of  the  primary  and  universal  elements  of 
interest  in  human  intercourse  which  was  to  make 
him,  later,  one  of  the  most  entertaining  men  of  his 
time.  His  power  of  analyzing  a  subject  so  as  to 
be  able  to  present  it  to  others  with  complete  clear 
ness  was  already  disclosing  itself.  No  matter  how 
complex  a  question  might  be,  he  did  not  rest  until 
he  had  reduced  it  to  its  simplest  terms.  When  he 
had  done  this  he  was  not  only  eager  to  make  it 
clear  to  others,  but  to  give  his  presentation  fresh 
ness,  variety,  attractiveness.  He  had,  in  a  word, 
the  literary  sense.  "  When  he  appeared  in  com 
pany,"  writes  one  of  his  early  companions,  "  the 
boys  would  gather  and  cluster  around  him  to  hear 
him  talk.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  figurative  in  his  speech, 
talks  and  conversation.  He  argued  much  from 
analogy,  and  explained  things  hard  for  us  to  un 
derstand  by  stories,  maxims,  tales  and  figures.  He 
would  almost  always  point  his  lesson  or  idea  by 
some  story  that  was  plain  and  near  to  us,  that  we 
might  instantly  see  the  force  and  bearing  of  what 
he  said." 


A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  41 

In  that  phrase  lies  the  secret  of  the  closeness  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  words  to  his  theme  and  to  his  listen 
ers, —  one  of  the  qualities  of  genuine,  original  ex 
pression.  He  fed  himself  with  thought,  and  he 
trained  himself  in  expression;  but  his  supreme  in 
terest  was  in  the  men  and  women  about  him,  and 
later,  in  the  great  questions  which  agitated  them. 
He  was  in  his  early  manhood  when  society  was 
profoundly  moved  by  searching  which  could  neither 
be  silenced  nor  evaded;  and  his  lot  was  cast  in  a 
section  where,  as  a  rule,  people  read  little  and  talked 
much.  Public  speech  was  the  chief  instrumentality 
of  political  education  and  the  most  potent  means 
of  persuasion ;  but  behind  the  platform,  upon  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  become  a  commanding  figure, 
were  countless  private  debates  carried  on  at  street 
corners,  in  hotel  rooms,  by  the  country  road,  in 
every  place  where  men  met  even  in  the  most  casual 
way.  In  these  wayside  schools  Mr.  Lincoln  prac 
ticed  the  art  of  putting  things  until  he  became  a 
past-master  in  debate,  both  formal  and  informal. 

If  all  these  circumstances,  habits  and  conditions 
are  studied  in  their  entirety,  it  will  be  seen  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  style,  so  far  as  its  formal  qualities 
are  concerned,  is  in  no  sense  accidental  or  even 
surprising.  He  was  all  his  early  life  in  the  way  of 
doing  precisely  what  he  did  in  his  later  life  with 
a  skill  which  had  become  instinct.  He  was  edu 
cated,  in  a  very  unusual  way,  to  speak  for  his  time 
and  to  his  time  with  perfect  sincerity  and  simplicity ; 
to  feel  the  moral  bearing  of  the  questions  which 
were  before  the  country;  to  discern  the  principles 


42  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

involved;  and  to  so  apply  the  principles  to  the 
questions  as  to  clarify  and  illuminate  them.  There 
is  little  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  lucidity, 
simplicity,  Flexibility,  and  compass  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  style;  it  is  not  until  we  turn  to  its  tempera 
mental  and  spiritual  qualities,  to  the  soul  of  it,  that 
we  find  ourselves  perplexed  and  baffled. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln's  possession  of  certain  rare 
qualities  is  in  no  way  more  surprising  than  their 
possession  by  Shakespeare,  Burns,  and  Whitman. 
We  are  constantly  tempted  to  look  for  the  sources 
of  a  man's  power  in  his  educational  opportunities  in 
stead  of  in  his  temperament  and  inheritance.  The 
springs  of  genius  are  purified  and  directed  in  their 
flow  by  the  processes  of  training,  but  they  are  fed 
from  deeper  sources.  The  man  of  obscure  an 
cestry  and  rude  surroundings  is  often  in  closer 
touch  with  nature,  and  with  those  universal  ex 
periences  which  are  the  very  stuff  of  literature, 
than  the  man  who  is  born  on  the  upper  reaches  of 
social  position  and  opportunity.  Mr.  Lincoln's  an 
cestry  for  at  least  two  generations  were  pioneers 
and  frontiersmen,  who  knew  hardship  and  priva 
tion,  and  were  immersed  in  that  great  wave  of 
energy  and  life  which  fertilized  and  humanized  the 
central  West.  They  were  in  touch  with  those 
original  experiences  out  of  which  the  higher  evolu 
tion  of  civilization  slowly  rises;  they  knew  the  soil 
and  the  sky  at  first  hand;  they  wrested  a  meagre 
subsistence  out  of  the  stubborn  earth  by  constant 
toil;  they  shared  to  the  full  the  vicissitudes  and 
weariness  of  humanity  at  its  elemental  tasks. 


A  MAN  OF  LETTERS  43 

It  was  to  this  nearness  to  the  heart  of  a  new 
country,  perhaps,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  owed  his  inti 
mate  knowledge  of  his  people  and  his  deep  and 
beautiful  sympathy  with  them.  There  was  nothing 
sinuous  or  secondary  in  his  processes  of  thought : 
they  were  broad,  simple,  and  homely  in  the  old 
sense  of  the  word.  He  had  rare  gifts,  but  he  was 
rooted  deep  in  the  soil  of  the  life  about  him,  and 
so  completely  in  touch  with  it  that  he  divined  its 
secrets  and  used  its  speech.  This  vital  sympathy 
gave  his  nature  a  beautiful  gentleness,  and  suffused 
his  thought  with  a  tenderness  born  of  deep  compas 
sion  and  love.  He  carried  the  sorrows  of  his 
country  as  truly  as  he  bore  its  burdens;  and  when 
he  came  to  speak  on  the  second  immortal  day  at 
Gettysburg,  he  condensed  into  a  few  sentences  the 
innermost  meaning  of  the  struggle  and  the  victory 
in  the  life  of  the  nation.  It  was  this  deep  heart 
of  pity  and  love  in  him  which  carried  him  far  be 
yond  the  reaches  of  statesmanship  or  oratory,  and 
gave  his  words  that  finality  of  expression  which 
marks  the  noblest  art. 

That  there  was  a  deep  vein  of  poetry  in  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  nature  is  clear  to  one  who  reads  the  story 
of  his  early  life;  and  this  innate  idealism,  set  in 
surroundings  so  harsh  and  rude,  had  something  to 
do  with  his  melancholy.  The  sadness  which  was 
mixed  with  his  whole  life  was,  however,  largely 
due  to  his  temperament ;  in  which  the  final  tragedy 
seemed  always  to  be  predicted.  In  that  tempera 
ment  too  is  hidden  the  secret  of  the  rare  quality 
of  nature  and  mind  which  suffused  his  public 


44  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

speech  and  turned  so  much  of  it  into  literature. 
There  was  humor  in  it,  there  was  deep  human 
sympathy,  there  was  clear  mastery  of  words  for  the 
use  to  which  he  put  them ;  but  there  was  something 
deeper  and  more  pervasive, —  there  was  the  quality 
of  his  temperament ;  and  temperament  is  a  large  part 
of  genius.  The  inner  forces  of  his  nature  played 
through  his  thought;  and  when  great  occasions 
touched  him  to  the  quick,  his  whole  nature  shaped 
his  speech  and  gave  it  clear  intelligence,  deep  feel 
ing,  and  that  beauty  which  is  distilled  out  of  the 
depths  of  the  sorrows  and  hopes  of  the  world.  He 
was  as  unlike  Burke  and  Webster,  those  masters 
of  the  eloquence  of  statesmanship,  as  Burns  was 
unlike  Milton  and  Tennyson.  Like  Burns,  he  held 
the  key  of  the  life  of  his  people ;  and  through  him, 
as  through  Burns,  that  life  found  a  voice,  vibrating, 
pathetic,  and  persuasive. 


LINCOLN'S  PRESENCE  OF  BODY 
From  "  Abe  Lincoln's  Yarns  and  Stories  " 

On  one  occasion,  Colonel  Baker  was  speaking 
in  a  court-house,  which  had  been  a  storehouse,  and, 
on  making  some  remarks  that  were  offensive  to 
certain  political  rowdies  in  the  crowd,  they  cried: 
"  Take  him  off  the  stand !  "  Immediate  confusion 
followed,  and  there  was  an  attempt  to  carry  the 
demand  into  execution.  Directly  over  the  speaker's 
head  was  an  old  skylight,  at  which  it  appeared  Mr. 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  45 

Lincoln  had  been  listening  to  the  speech.  In  an 
instant,  Mr.  Lincoln's  feet  came  through  the  sky 
light,  followed  by  his  tall  and  sinewy  frame,  and 
he  was  standing  by  Colonel  Baker's  side.  He  raised 
his  hand,  and  the  assembly  subsided  into  silence. 
"  Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  let  us  not  dis 
grace  the  age  and  country  in  which  we  live.  This 
is  a  land  where  freedom  of  speech  is  guaranteed. 
Mr.  Baker  has  a  right  to  speak,  and  ought  to  be 
permitted  to  do  so.  I  am  here  to  protect  him,  and 
no  man  shall  take  him  from  this  stand  if  I  can 
prevent  it." 

The  suddenness  of  his  appearance,  his  perfect 
calmness  and  fairness,  and  the  knowledge  that  he 
would  do  what  he  had  promised  to  do,  quieted  all 
disturbance,  and  the  speaker  concluded  his  remarks 
without  difficulty. 


HOW  LINCOLN  BECAME  A  NATIONAL 
FIGURE 

BY  IDA  M.  TARBELL 

From  "  The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln."  * 

"  The  greatest  speech  ever  made  in  Illinois,  and 
it  puts  Lincoln  on  the  track  for  the  Presidency," 
was  the  comment  made  by  enthusiastic  Republicans 
on  Lincoln's  speech  before  the  Bloomington  Con 
vention.  Conscious  that  it  was  he  who  had  put 

1  By  special  permission  of  the  McClure  Company. 


46  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  breath  of  life  into  their  organization,  the  party 
instinctively  turned  to  him  as  its  leader.  The  ef 
fect  of  this  local  recognition  was  at  once  percep 
tible  in  the  national  organization.  Less  than  three 
weeks  after  the  delivery  of  the  Bloomington  speech, 
the  national  convention  of  the  Republican  party 
met  in  Philadelphia,  June  17,  to  nominate  candi 
dates  for  the  Presidency  and  Vice-presidency.  Lin 
coln's  name  was  the  second  proposed  for  the  latter 
office,  and  on  the  first  ballot  he  received  one  hun 
dred  and  ten  votes.  The  news  reached  him  at  Ur- 
bana,  111.,  where  he  was  attending  court,  one  of  his 
companions  reading  from  a  daily  paper  just  re 
ceived  from  Chicago,  the  result  of  the  ballot.  The 
simple  name  Lincoln  was  given,  without  the  name 
of  the  man's  State.  Lincoln  said  indifferently  that 
he  did  not  suppose  it  could  be  himself ;  and  added 
that  there  was  "  another  great  man  "  of  the  name 
a  man  from  Massachusetts.  The  next  day,  how 
ever,  he  knew  that  it  was  himself  to  whom  the  con 
vention  had  given  so  strong  an  endorsement.  He 
knew  also  that  the  ticket  chosen  was  Fremont  and 
Dayton. 

The  campaign  of  the  following  summer  and  fall 
was  one  of  intense  activity  for  Lincoln.  In  Illinois 
and  the  neighboring  States  he  made  over  fifty 
speeches,  only  fragments  of  which  have  been  pre 
served.  One  of  the  first  important  ones  was  de 
livered  on  July  4,  1856,  at  a  great  mass  meeting 
at  Princeton,  the  home  of  the  Love  joys  and  the 
Bryants.  The  people  were  still  irritated  by  tho 
outrages  in  Kansas  and  by  the  attack  on  Sumner. 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  47 

in  the  Senate,  and  the  temptation  to  deliver  a  stir 
ring  and  indignant  oration  must  have  been  strong. 
Lincoln's  speech  was,  however,  a  fine  example  of 
political  wisdom,  an  historical  argument  admirably 
calculated  to  convince  his  auditors  that  they  were 
right  in  their  opposition  to  slavery  extension,  but 
so  controlled  and  sane  that  it  would  stir  no  im 
pulsive  radical  to  violence.  There  probably  was 
not  uttered  in  the  United  States  on  that  critical 
4th  of  July,  1856,  when  the  very  foundation  of  the 
government  was  in  dispute  and  the  day  itself 
seemed  a  mockery,  a  cooler,  more  logical  speech 
than  this  by  the  man  who,  a  month  before,  had 
driven  a  convention  so  nearly  mad  that  the  very  re 
porters  had  forgotten  to  make  notes.  And  the 
temper  of  this  Princeton  speech  Lincoln  kept 
throughout  the  campaign. 

In  spite  of  the  valiant  struggle  of  the  Repub 
licans,  Buchanan  was  elected ;  but  Lincoln  was  in 
no  way  discouraged.  The  Republicans  had  polled 
1,341,264  votes  in  the  country.  In  Illinois,  they 
had  given  Fremont  nearly  100,000  votes,  and  they 
had  elected  their  candidate  for  governor,  General 
Bissell.  Lincoln  turned  from  arguments  to  en 
couragement  and  good  counsel. 

"  All  of  us,"  he  said  at  a  Republican  banquet  in 
Chicago,  a  few  weeks  after  the  election,  "  who  did 
not  vote  for  Mr.  Buchanan,  taken  together,  are  a 
majority  of  four  hundred  thousand.  But  in  the 
late  contest  we  were  divided  between  Fremont  and 
Fillmore.  Can  we  not  come  together  for  the  fu 
ture?  Let  every  one  who  really  believes  and  is 


48  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY: 

resolved  that  free  society  is  not  and  shall  not  be  a 
failure,  and  who  can  conscientiously  declare  that 
in  the  last  contest  he  had  done  what  he  thought  best 
—  let  every  such  one  have  charity  to  believe  that 
every  other  one  can  say  as  much.  Thus  let  bygones 
be  bygones ;  let  past  differences  as  nothing  be ;  and 
with  steady  eye  on  the  real  issue  let  us  reinau- 
gurate  the  good  old  '  central  idea '  of  the  republic. 
We  can  do  it.  The  human  heart  is  with  us;  God 
is  with  us.  We  shall  again  be  able,  not  to  de 
clare  that  '  all  States  as  States  are  equal/  nor  yet 
that  '  all  citizens  as  citizens  are  equal/  but  to  re 
new  the  broader,  better  declaration,  including  both 
these  and  much  more,  that  '  all  men  are  created 
equal/  " 

The  spring  of  1857  §Tave  Lincoln  a  new  line  of 
argument.  Buchanan  was  scarcely  in  the  Presi 
dential  chair  before  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  de 
cision  of  the  Dred  Scott  case,  declared  that  a  negro 
could  not  sue  in  the  United  States  courts  and  that 
Congress  could  not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Terri 
tories.  This  decision  was  such  an  evident  ad 
vance  of  the  slave  power  that  there  was  a  violent 
uproar  in  the  North.  Douglas  went  at  once  to 
Illinois  to  calm  his  constituents.  "  What,"  he 
cried,  "  oppose  the  Supreme  Court !  is  it  not 
sacred?  To  resist  it  is  anarchy." 

Lincoln  met  him  fairly  on  the  issue  in  a  speech 
at  Springfield  in  June,  1857. 

"  We  believe  as  much  as  Judge  Douglas  (per 
haps  more)  in  obedience  to  and  respect  for  the 
judicial  department  of  government.  .  .  .  But 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  49 

we  think  the  Dred  Scott  decision  is  erroneous.  We 
know  the  court  that  made  it  has  often  overruled 
its  own  decisions,  and  we  shall  do  what  we  can  to 
have  it  overrule  this.  We  offer  no  resistance  to 
it.  ...  If  this  important  decision  had  been 
made  by  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the  judges, 
and  without  any  apparent  partisan  bias,  and  in  ac 
cordance  with  legal  public  expectation  and  with 
the  steady  practice  of  the  departments  throughout 
our  history,  and  had  been  in  no  part  based  on  as 
sumed  historical  facts  which  are  not  really  true ; 
or  if,  wanting  in  some  of  these,  it  had  been  before 
the  court  more  than  once,  and  had  there  been  af 
firmed  and  reaffirmed  through  a  course  of  years,  it 
then  might  be,  perhaps  would  be,  factious,  nay, 
even  revolutionary,  not  to  acquiesce  in  it  as  a 
precedent.  But  when,  as  is  true,  we  find  it  want 
ing  in  all  these  claims  to  the  public  confidence,  it 
is  not  resistance,  it  is  not  factious,  it  is  not  even 
disrespectful,  to  treat  it  as  not  having  yet  quite 
established  a  settled  doctrine  for  the  country." 

Let  Douglas  cry  "  awful,"  "  anarchy/'  "  revolu 
tion,"  as  much  as  he  would,  Lincoln's  arguments 
against  the  Dred  Scott  decision  appealed  to  com 
mon  sense  and  won  him  commendation  all  over  the 
country.  Even  the  radical  leaders  of  the  party  in 
the  East  —  Seward,  Sumner,  Theodore  Parker  — 
began  to  notice  him,  to  read  his  speeches,  to  con 
sider  his  arguments. 

With  every  month  of  1857  Lincoln  grew  stronger, 
and  his  election  in  Illinois  as  United  States  sena 
torial  candidate  in  1858  against  Douglas  would  have 


50  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

been  insured  if  Douglas  had  not  suddenly  broken 
with  Buchanan  and  his  party  in  a  way  which  won 
him  the  hearty  sympathy  and  respect  of  a  large 
part  of  the  Republicans  of  the  North.  By  a  fla 
grantly  unfair  vote  the  pro-slavery  leaders  of  Kan 
sas  had  secured  the  adoption  of  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  allowing  slavery  in  the  State.  Presi 
dent  Buchanan  urged  Congress  to  admit  Kansas 
with  her  bogus  Constitution.  Douglas,  who  would 
not  sanction  so  base  an  injustice,  opposed  the  meas 
ure,  voting  with  the  Republicans  steadily  against 
the  admission.,  The  Buchananists,  outraged  at  what 
they  called  "  Douglas's  apostasy,"  broke  with  him. 
Then  it  was  that  a  part  of  the  Republican  party, 
notably  Horace  Greeley  at  the  head  of  the  New 
York  "  Tribune,"  struck  by  the  boldness  and  nobil 
ity  of  Douglas's  opposition,  began  to  hope  to  win 
him  over  from  the  Democrats  to  the  Republicans. 
Their  first  step  was  to  counsel  the  leaders  of  their 
party  in  Illinois  to  put  up  no  candidate  against 
Douglas  for  the  United  States  senatorship  in  1858. 
Lincoln  saw  this  change  on  the  part  of  the  Re 
publican  leaders  with  dismay.  "  Greeley  is  not 
doing  me  right,"  he  said.  "...  I  am  a  true 
Republican,  and  have  been  tried  already  in  the  hot 
test  part  of  the  anti-slavery  fight;  and  yet  I  find 
him  taking  up  Douglas,  a  veritable  dodger, —  once 
a  tool  of  the  South,  now  its  enemy, —  and  pushing 
him  to  the  front."  He  grew  so  restless  over  the 
returning  popularity  of  Douglas  amng  the  Repub 
licans  that  Herndon,  his  law-partner,  determined 
to  go  East  to  find  out  the  real  feeling  of  the  East- 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  51 

ern  leaders  towards  Lincoln.  Herndon  had,  for 
a  long  time,  been  in  correspondence  with  the  lead 
ing  abolitionists  and  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  in 
terviews.  The  returns  he  brought  back  from  his 
canvass  were  not  altogether  reassuring.  Seward, 
Sumner,  Phillips,  Garrison,  Beecher,  Theodore 
Parker,  all  spoke  favorably  of  Lincoln  and  Seward 
sent  him  word  that  the  Republicans  would  never 
take  up  so  slippery  a  quantity  as  Douglas  had 
proved  himself.  But  Greeley  —  the  all-important 
Greeley  —  was  lukewarm.  '  The  Republican  stand 
ard  is  too  high,"  he  told  Herndon.  "  We  want 
something  practical.  .  .  .  Douglas  is  a  brave 
man.  Forget  the  past  and  sustain  the  righteous." 
"  Good  God,  righteous,  eh !  "  groaned  Herndon  in 
his  letter  to  Lincoln. 

But  though  the  encouragement  which  came  to 
Lincoln  from  the  East  in  the  spring  of  1858  was 
meagre,  that  which  came  from  Illinois  was  abun 
dant.  There  the  Republicans  supported  him  in 
whole-hearted  devotion.  In  June,  the  State  con 
vention,  meeting  in  Springfield  to  nominate  its 
candidate  for  Senator,  declared  that  Abraham  Lin 
coln  was  its  first  and  only  choice  as  the  successor 
of  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  press  was  jubilant. 
"  Unanimity  is  a  weak  word,"  wrote  the  editor  of 
the  Bloomington  "  Pantagraph,"  "  to  express  the 
universal  and  intense  feeling  of  the  convention. 
Lincoln!  LINCOLN!!  LINCOLN!!!  was  the  cry 
everywhere,  whenever  the  senatorship  was  alluded 
to.  Delegates  from  Chicago  and  from  Cairo,  from 
the  Wabash  and  the  Illinois,  from  the  north,  the 


52  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

center,  and  the  south,  were  alike  fierce  with  en 
thusiasm,  whenever  that  loved  name  was  breathed. 
Enemies  at  home  and  misjudging  friends  abroad, 
who  have  looked  for  dissension  among  us  on  the 
question  of  the  senatorship,  will  please  take  notice 
that  our  nomination  is  a  unanimous  one;  and  that, 
in  the  event  of  a  Republican  majority  in  the  next 
Legislature,  no  other  name  than  Lincoln's  will  be 
mentioned,  or  thought  of,  by  a  solitary  Republican 
legislator.  One  little  incident  in  the  convention 
was  a  pleasing  illustration  of  the  universality  of  the 
Lincoln  sentiment.  Cook  County  had  brought  a 
banner  into  the  assemblage  inscribed,  '  Cook  County 
for  Abraham  Lincoln/  During  a  pause  in  the  pro 
ceedings,  a  delegate  from  another  county  rose  and 
proposed,  with  the  consent  of  the  Cook  County 
delegation,  *  to  amend  the  banner  by  substituting 
for  "  Cook  County  "  the  word  which  I  hold  in  my 
hand/  at  the  same  time  unrolling  a  scroll,  and  re 
vealing  the  word  '  Illinois '  in  huge  capitals.  The 
Cook  delegation  promptly  accepted  the  amend 
ment,  and  amidst  a  perfect  hurricane  of  hur 
rahs,  the  banner  was  duly  altered  to  express  the 
sentiment  of  the  whole  Republican  party  of  the 
State,  thus :  *  Illinois  for  Abraham  Lincoln/  J: 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  of  his  nomination, 
Lincoln  addressed  his  constituents.  The  first  para 
graph  of  his  speech  gave  the  key  to  the  campaign 
he  proposed.  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  can 
not  stand.  I  believe  this  government  cannot  en 
dure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do 
not  expect  the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  53 

will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing  or  all  the  other." 

Then  followed  the  famous  charge  of  conspiracy 
against  the  slavery  advocates,  the  charge  that 
Pierce,  Buchanan,  Chief  Justice  Taney,  and  Doug 
las  had  been  making  a  concerted  effort  to  legalize 
the  institution  of  slavery  "  in  all  the  States,  old 
as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South."  He  mar 
shaled  one  after  another  of  the  measures  that  the 
pro-slavery  leaders  had  secured  in  the  past  four 
years,  and  clinched  the  argument  by  one  of  his 
inimitable  illustrations. 

"  When  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  dif 
ferent  portions  of  which  we  know  have  been  got 
ten  out  of  different  times  and  places  and  by 
different  workmen, —  Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger  and 
James,*  for  instance, —  and  we  see  these  timbers 
joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly  make  the 
frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and 
mortises  exactly  fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and 
proportions  of  the  different  pieces  exactly  adapted 
to  their  respective  places,  and  not  a  piece  too  many 
or  too  few,  not  omitting  even  the  scaffolding  — 
or,  if  a  single  piece  be  lacking,  we  see  the  place  in 
the  frame  exactly  fitted  and  prepared  yet  to  bring 
such  a  piece  in  —  in  such  a  case  we  find  it  impos 
sible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and  Franklin  and 
Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another  from 
the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan 

*  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Franklin  Pierce,  Roger  Taney, 
James  Buchanan. 


54  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

or  draft,  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow  was 
struck." 

The  speech  was  severely  criticised  by  Lincoln's 
friends.  It  was  too  radical.  It  was  sectional. 
He  heard  the  complaints  unmoved.  "  If  I  had  to 
draw  a  pen  across  my  record,"  he  said,  one  day, 
"  and  erase  my  whole  life  from  sight,  and  I  had 
one  poor  gift  of  choice  left  as  to  what  I  should 
save  from  the  wreck,  I  should  choose  that  speech 
and  leave  it  to  the  world  unerased." 

The  speech,  was,  in  fact,  one  of  great  political 
adroitness.  It  forced  Douglas  to  do  exactly  what 
he  did  not  want  to  do  in  Illinois ;  explain  his  own 
record  during  the  past  four  years ;  explain  the  true 
meaning  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill ;  discuss  the 
Dred  Scott  decision ;  say  whether  or  not  he  thought 
slavery  so  good  a  thing  that  the  country  could  af 
ford  to  extend  it  instead  of  confining  it  where  it 
would  be  in  course  of  gradual  extinction.  Doug 
las  wanted  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  to  follow 
Greeley's  advice :  "  Forgive  the  past."  He  wanted 
to  make  the  most  among  them  of  his  really  noble 
revolt  against  the  attempt  of  his  party  to  fasten  an 
unjust  constitution  on  Kansas.  Lincoln  would  not 
allow  him  to  bask  for  an  instant  in  the  sun  of  that 
revolt.  He  crowded  him  step  by  step  through  his 
party's  record,  and  compelled  him  to  face  what  he 
called  the  "  profound  central  truth "  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  "  slavery  is  wrong  and  ought  to  be 
dealt  with  as  wrong." 

But  it  was  at  once  evident  that  Douglas  did  not 
mean  to  meet  the  issue  squarely.  He  called  the 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  55 

doctrine  of  Lincoln's  "  house-divided-against-it- 
self "  speech  "  sectionalism " ;  his  charge  of  con 
spiracy  "  false  " ;  his  talk  of  the  wrong  of  slavery 
extension  "  abolitionism."  This  went  on  for  a 
month.  Then  Lincoln  resolved  to  force  Douglas 
to  meet  his  arguments,  and  challenged  him  to  a 
series  of  joint  debates.  Douglas  was  not  pleased. 
His  reply  to  the  challenge  was  irritable,  even 
slightly  insolent.  To  those  of  his  friends  who 
talked  with  him  privately  of  the  contest,  he  said : 
"  I  do  not  feel,  between  you  and  me,  that  I  want 
to  go  into  this  debate.  The  whole  country  knows 
me,  and  has  me  measured.  Lincoln,  as  regards 
myself,  is  comparatively  unknown,  and  if  he  gets 
the  best  of  this  debate, —  and  I  want  to  say  he  is 
the  ablest  man  the  Republicans  have  got, —  I  shall 
lose  everything  and  Lincoln  will  gain  everything. 
Should  I  win,  I  shall  gain  but  little.  I  do  not 
want  to  go  into  a  debate  with  Abe."  Publicly, 
however,  he  carried  off  the  prospect  confidently, 
even  jauntily.  "  Mr.  Lincoln,"  he  said  patroniz 
ingly,  "  is  a  kind,  amiable,  intelligent  gentleman." 
In  the  meantime  his  constituents  boasted  loudly 
of  the  fine  spectacle  they  were  going  to  give  the 
State  — "  the  Little  Giant  chawing  up  Old  Abe !" 

Many  of  Lincoln's  friends  looked  forward  to  the 
encounter  with  foreboding.  Often,  in  spite  of  their 
best  intentions,  they  showed  anxiety.  "  Shortly 
before  the  first  debate  came  off  at  Ottawa,"  says 
Judge  H.  W.  Beckwith  of  Danville,  111.,  "  I  passed 
the  Chenery  House,  then  the  principal  hotel  in 
Springfield.  The  lobby  was  crowded  with  partisan 


56  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

leaders  from  various  sections  of  the  State,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln,  from  his  greater  height,  was  seen  above 
the  surging  mass  that  clung  about  him  like  a  swarm 
of  bees  to  their  ruler.  He  looked  careworn,  but 
he  met  the  crowd  patiently  and  kindly,  shaking 
hands,  answering  questions,  and  receiving  assur 
ances  of  support.  The  day  was  warm,  and  at  the 
first  chance  he  broke  away  and  came  out  for  a  little 
fresh  air,  wiping  the  sweat  from  his  face. 

"  As  he  passed  the  door  he  saw  me,  and,  taking 
my  hand,  inquired  for  the  health  and  views  of  his 
'  friends  over  in  Vermilion  County/  He  was  as 
sured  they  were  wide  awake,  and  further  told  that 
they  looked  forward  to  the  debate  between  him  and 
Senator  Douglas  with  deep  concern.  From  the 
shadow  that  went  quickly  over  his  face,  the  pained 
look  that  came  to  give  quickly  way  to  a  blaze  of 
eyes  and  quiver  of  lips,  I  felt  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
gone  beneath  my  mere  words  and  caught  my  inner 
and  current  fears  as  to  the  result.  And  then,  in  a 
forgiving,  jocular  way  peculiar  to  him,  he  said,  *  Sit 
down ;  I  have  a  moment  to  spare  and  will  tell  you 
a  story.'  Having  been  on  his  feet  for  some  time, 
he  sat  on  the  end  of  the  stone  steps  leading  into 
the  hotel  door,  while  I  stood  closely  fronting  him. 

" '  You  have/  he  continued,  *  seen  two  men  about 
to  fight?' 

"  '  Yes,  many  times.' 

" '  Well,  one  of  them  brags  about  what  he  means 
to  do.  He  jumps  high  in  the  air,  cracking  his  heels 
together,  smites  his  fists,  and  wastes  his  breath  try 
ing  to  scare  everybody.  You  see  the  other  fellow, 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  57 

he  says  not  a  word,' —  here  Mr.  Lincoln's  voice  and 
manner  changed  to  great  earnestness,  and  repeat 
ing  — '  you  see  the  other  man  says  not  a  word. 
His  arms  are  at  his  side,  his  fists  are  closely 
doubled  up,  his  head  is  drawn  to  the  shoulder,  and 
his  teeth  are  set  firm  together.  He  is  saving  his 
wind  for  the  fight,  and  as  sure  as  it  comes  off  he 
will  win  it,  or  die  a-trying.' 

"  He  made  no  other  comment,  but  arose,  bade 
me  good-by,  and  left  me  to  apply  that  illustration." 

It  was  inevitable  that  Douglas's  friends  should 
be  sanguine,  Lincoln's  doubtful.  The  contrast  be 
tween  the  two  candidates  was  almost  pathetic. 
Senator  Douglas  was  the  most  brilliant  figure  in  the 
political  life  of  the  day.  Winning  in  personality, 
fearless  as  an  advocate,  magnetic  in  eloquence, 
shrewd  in  political  manoeuvring,  he  had  every 
quality  to  captivate  the  public.  His  resources  had 
never  failed  him.  From  his  entrance  into  Illinois 
politics  in  1834,  he  had  been  the  recipient  of  every 
political  honor  his  party  had  to  bestow.  For  the 
past  eleven  years  he  had  been  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  where  he  had  influenced  all 
the  important  legislation  of  the  day  and  met  in 
debate  every  strong  speaker  of  North  and  South. 
In  1852,  and  again  in  1856,  he  had  been  a  strongly 
supported,  though  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the 
Democratic  Presidential  nomination.  In  1858  he 
was  put  at  or  near  the  head  of  every  list  of  possible 
Presidential  candidates  made  up  for  1860. 

How  barren  Lincoln's  public  career  in  compari 
son!  Three  terms  in  the  lower  house  of  the  State 


58  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Assembly,  one  term  in  Congress,  then  a  failure 
which  drove  him  from  public  life.  Now  he  re 
turns  as  a  bolter  from  his  party,  a  leader  in  a  new 
organization  which  the  conservatives  are  denounc 
ing  as  "  visionary,"  "  impractical,"  "  revolutionary." 
No  one  recognized  more  clearly  than  Lincoln  the 
difference  between  himself  and  his  opponent. 
"  With  me,"  he  said,  sadly,  in  comparing  the  careers 
of  himself  and  Douglas,  "  the  race  of  ambition  has 
been  a  failure  —  a  flat  failure.  With  him  it  has 
been  one  of  splendid  success."  He  warned  his 
party  at  the  outset  that,  with  himself  as  a  standard- 
bearer,  the  battle  must  be  fought  on  principle 
alone,  without  any  of  the  external  aids  which 
Douglas's  brilliant  career  gave.  "  Senator  Douglas 
is  of  world-wide  renown,"  he  said ;  "  All  the  anxious 
politicians  of  his  party,  or  who  have  been  of  his 
party  for  years  past,  have  been  looking  upon  him  as 
certain,  at  no  distant  day,  to  be  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  They  have  seen  in  his  round, 
jolly,  fruitful  face,  post-offices,  land-offices,  marshal- 
ships,  and  cabinet  appointments,  chargeships  and 
foreign  missions,  bursting  and  sprouting  out  in 
wonderful  exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by 
their  greedy  hands.  And  as  they  have  been  gaz 
ing  upon  this  attractive  picture  so  long,  they  cannot, 
in  the  little  distraction  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
party,  bring  themselves  to  give  up  the  charming 
hope;  but  with  greedier  anxiety  they  rush  about 
him,  sustain  him,  and  give  him  marches,  triumphal 
entries,  and  receptions  beyond  what  even  in  the 
days  of  his  highest  prosperity  they  could  have 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  59 

brought  about  in  his  favor.  On  the  contrary,  no 
body  has  ever  expected  me  to  be  President.  In 
my  poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has  ever  seen 
that  any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out.  These  are 
disadvantages,  all  taken  together,  that  the  Re 
publicans  labor  under.  We  have  to  fight  this  bat 
tle  upon  principle,  and  upon  principle  alone." 

If  one  will  take  a  map  of  Illinois  and  locate  the 
points  of  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates  held  be 
tween  August  21  and  October  15,  1858,  he  will 
see  that  the  whole  State  was  traversed  in  the  con 
test.  The  first  took  place  at  Ottawa,  about  seventy- 
five  miles  southwest  of  Chicago,  on  August  21 ;  the 
second  at  Freeport,  near  the  Wisconsin  boundary, 
on  August  27.  The  third  was  in  the  extreme 
southern  part  of  the  State,  at  Jonesboro,  on  Sep 
tember  15.  Three  days  later  the  contestants  met 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northeast  of  Jones 
boro,  at  Charleston.  The  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh 
debates  \vere  held  in  the  western  part  of  the  State ; 
at  Galesburg,  October  7;  Quincy,  October  13;  and 
Alton,  October  15. 

Constant  exposure  and  fatigue  were  unavoidable 
in  meeting  these  engagements.  Both  contestants 
spoke  almost  every  day  through  the  intervals  be 
tween  the  joint  debates ;  and  as  railroad  communica 
tion  in  Illinois  in  1858  was  still  very  incomplete, 
they  were  often  obliged  to  resort  to  horse,  carriage, 
or  steamer,  to  reach  the  desired  points.  Judge 
Douglas  succeeded,  however,  in  making  this  difficult 
journey  something  of  a  triumphal  procession.  He 
was  accompanied  throughout  the  campaign  by  his 


60  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

wife  —  a  beautiful  and  brilliant  woman  —  and  by  a 
number  of  distinguished  Democrats. 

On  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  he  had  always 
a  special  car,  sometimes  a  special  train.  Fre 
quently  he  swept  by  Lincoln,  side-tracked  in  an 
accommodation  or  freight  train.  "  The  gentleman 
in  that  car  evidently  smelt  no  royalty  on  our  car 
riage,"  laughed  Lincoln  one  day,  as  he  watched 
from  the  caboose  of  a  laid-up  freight  train  the 
decorated  special  of  Douglas  flying  by. 

It  was  only  when  Lincoln  left  the  railroad  and 
crossed  the  prairie  at  some  isolated  town,  that  he 
went  in  state.  The  attentions  he  received  were 
often  very  trying  to  him.  He  detested  what  he 
called  "  fizzlegigs  and  fireworks,"  and  would 
squirm  in  disgust  when  his  friends  gave  him  a 
genuine  prairie  ovation.  Usually,  when  he  was 
going  to  a  point  distant  from  the  railway,  a  "  dis 
tinguished  citizen  "  met  him  at  the  station  nearest 
the  place  with  a  carriage.  When  they  were  come 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  town,  a  long  pro 
cession  with  banners  and  band  would  appear  wind 
ing  across  the  prairie  to  meet  the  speaker.  A 
speech  of  greeting  was  made,  and  then  the  ladies 
of  the  entertainment  committee  would  present  Lin 
coln  with  flowers,  sometimes  even  winding  a 
garland  about  his  head  and  lanky  figure.  His  em 
barrassment  at  these  attentions  was  thoroughly  ap 
preciated  by  his  friends.  At  the  Ottawa  debate 
the  enthusiasm  of  his  supporters  was  so  great  that 
they  insisted  on  carrying  him  from  the  platform  to 
the  house  where  he  was  to  be  entertained.  Power- 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  61 

less  to  escape  from  the  clutches  of  his  admirers,  he 
could  only  cry,  "  Don't,  boys ;  let  me  down ;  come 
now,  don't."  But  the  "  boys  "  persisted,  and  they 
tell  to-dayt  proudly  of  their  exploit  and  of  the 
cordial  hand-shake  Lincoln,  all  embarrassed  as  he 
was,  gave  each  when  at  last  he  was  free. 

On  arrival  at  the  towns  where  the  joint  debates 
were  held,  Douglas  was  always  met  by  a  brass 
band  and  a  salute  of  thirty-two  guns  (the  Union 
was  composed  of  thirty-two  States  in  1858),  and 
was  escorted  to  the  hotel  in  the  finest  equipage  to 
be  had.  Lincoln's  supporters  took  delight  in  show 
ing  their  contempt  of  Douglas's  elegance  by  af 
fecting  a  Republican  simplicity,  often  carrying 
their  candidate  through  the  streets  on  a  high  and 
unadorned  hay-rack  drawn  by  farm  horses.  The 
scenes  in  the  towns  on  the  occasion  of  the  debates 
were  perhaps  never  equalled  at  any  other  of  the 
hustings  of  this  country.  No  distance  seemed  too 
great  for  the  people  to  go;  no  vehicle  too  slow  or 
fatiguing.  At  Charleston  there  was  a  great  dele 
gation  of  men,  women  and  children  present  which 
had  come  in  a  long  procession  from  Indiana  by 
farm  wagons,  afoot,  on  horseback,  and  in  carriages. 
The  crowds  at  three  or  four  of  the  debates  were 
for  that  day  immense.  There  were  estimated  to 
be  from  eight  thousand  to  fourteen  thousand  peo 
ple  at  Quincy,  some  six  thousand  at  Alton,  from 
ten  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  at  Charleston, 
some  twenty  thousand  at  Ottawa.  Many  of  those 
at  Ottawa  came  the  night  before.  "  It  was  a  mat 
ter  of  but  a  short  time,"  says  Mr.  George  Beatty 


62  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

of  Ottawa,  "  until  the  few  hotels,  the  livery  stables, 
and  private  houses  were  crowded,  and  there  were 
no  accommodations  left.  Then  the  campaigners 
spread  out  about  the  town,  and  camped  in  what 
ever  spot  was  most  convenient.  They  went  along 
the  bluff  and  on  the  bottom-lands,  and  that  night, 
the  camp-fires,  spread  up  and  down  the  valley  for 
a  mile,  made  it  look  as  if  an  army  was  gathered 
about  us." 

When  the  crowd  was  massed  at  the  place  of  the 
debate,  the  scene  was  one  of  the  greatest  hubbub 
and  confusion.  On  the  corners  of  the  squares,  and 

scattered  around  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd,  were 

/ 

fakirs  of  every  description,  selling  painkillers  and 
ague  cures,  watermelons  and  lemonade;  jugglers 
and  beggars  plied  their  trades,  and  the  brass  bands 
of  all  the  four  corners  within  twenty-five  miles 
tooted  and  pounded  at  "  Hail  Columbia,  Happy 
Land,"  or  "  Columbia,  the  Gem  of  the  Ocean." 

Conspicuous  in  the  processions  at  all  the  points 
was  what  Lincoln  called  the  "  Basket  of  Flowers," 
thirty-two  young  girls  in  a  resplendent  car,  repre 
senting  the  Union.  At  Charleston,  a  thirty-third 
young  woman  rode  behind  the  car,  representing 
Kansas.  She  carried  a  banner  inscribed :  "  I  will 
be  free  " ;  a  motto  which  brought  out  from  nearly 
all  the  newspaper  reporters  the  comment  that  she 
was  too  fair  to  be  long  free. 

The  mottoes  at  the  different  meetings  epitomized 
the  popular  conception  of  the  issues  and  the  candi 
dates.  Among  the  Lincoln  sentiments  were : 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  63 

Illinois  born  under  the  Ordinance  of  '87. 

Free  Territories  and  Free  Men, 
Free  Pulpits  and  Free  Preachers, 

Free  Press  and  a  Free  Pen, 

Free  Schools  and  Free  Teachers. 

"  Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way ; 
The  girls  link  on  to  Lincoln,  their  mothers  were  for 
Clay." 

Abe  the  Giant-Killer. 

Edgar  County  for  the  Tall  Sucker. 

A  striking  feature  of  the  crowds  was  the  num 
ber  of  women  they  included.  The  intelligent  and 
lively  interest  they  took  in  the  debates  caused  much 
comment.  No  doubt  Mrs.  Douglas's  presence  had 
something  to  do  with  this.  They  were  particularly 
active  in  receiving  the  speakers,  and  at  Quincy, 
Lincoln,  on  being  presented  with  what  the  local 
press  described  as  a  "  beautiful  and  elegant  bou 
quet,"  took  pains  to  express  his  gratification  at  the 
part  women  everywhere  took  in  the  contest. 

While  this  helter-skelter  outpouring  of  prairie- 
dom  had  the  appearance  of  being  little  more  than 
a  great  jollification,  a  lawless  country  fair,  in  re 
ality  it  was  with  the  majority  of  the  people  a 
profoundly  serious  matter.  With  every  discussion 
it  became  more  vital.  Indeed,  in  the  first  debate, 
which  was  opened  and  closed  by  Douglas,  the  re 
lation  of  the  two  speakers  became  dramatic.  It 
was  here  that  Douglas  hoping  to  fasten  on  Lin 
coln  the  stigma  of  "  abolitionist,"  charged  him  with 


64  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

having  undertaken  to  abolitionize  the  old  Whig 
party,  and  having  been  in  1854  a  subscriber  to  a 
radical  platform  proclaimed  at  Springfield.  This 
platform  Douglas  read.  Lincoln,  when  he  replied, 
could  only  say  he  was  never  at  the  convention  — 
knew  nothing  of  the  resolutions ;  but  the  impression 
prevailed  that  he  was  cornered.  The  next  issue  of 
the  Chicago  "  Press  and  Tribune "  dispelled  it. 
That  paper  had  employed  to  report  the  debates  the 
first  shorthand  reporter  of  Chicago,  Mr.  Robert  L. 
Hitt  —  now  a  Member  of  Congress  and  the  Chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  Mr. 
Hitt,  when  Douglas  began  to  read  the  resolutions, 
took  an  opportunity  to  rest,  supposing  he  could 
get  the  original  from  the  speaker.  He  took  down 
only  the  first  line  of  each  resolution.  He  missed 
Douglas  after  the  debate,  but  on  reaching  Chicago, 
where  he  wrote  out  his  report,  he  sent  an  assistant 
to  the  files  to  find  the  platform  adopted  at  the 
Springfield  Convention.  It  was  brought,  but  when 
Mr.  Hitt  began  to  transcribe  it  he  saw  at  once 
that  it  was  widely  different  from  the  one  Douglas 
had  read.  There  was  great  excitement  in  the  of 
fice,  and  the  staff,  ardently  Republican,  went  to 
work  to  discover  where  the  resolutions  had  come 
from.  It  was  found  that  they  originated  at  a 
meeting  of  radical  abolitionists  with  whom  Lincoln 
had  never  been  associated. 

The  "  Press  and  Tribune "  announced  the 
"  forgery,"  as  it  was  called  in  a  caustic  editorial, 
'''  The  Little  Dodger  Cornered  and  Caught." 
Within  a  week  even  the  remote  school-districts  of 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  65 

Illinois  were  discussing  Douglas's  action,  and  many 
of  the  most  important  papers  of  the  nation  had 
made  it  a  subject  of  editorial  comment. 

Almost  without  exception  Douglas  was  con 
demned.  No  amount  of  explanation  on  his  part 
helped  him.  "  The  particularity  of  Douglas's 
charge,"  said  the  Louisville  "  Journal,"  "  precludes 
the  idea  that  he  was  simply  and  innocently  mis 
taken."  Lovers  of  fair  play  were  disgusted,  and 
those  of  Douglas's  own  party  who  would  have  ap 
plauded  a  trick  too  clever  to  be  discovered  could 
not  forgive  him  for  one  which  had  been  found  out. 
Greeley  came  out  bitterly  against  him,  and  before 
long  wrote  to  Lincoln  and  Herndon  that  Douglas 
was  "  like  the  man's  boy  who  (he  said)  didn't 
weigh  so  much  as  he  expected  and  he  always  knew 
he  wouldn't." 

Douglas's  error  became  a  sharp-edged  sword  in 
Lincoln's  hand.  Without  directly  referring  to  it, 
he  called  his  hearers'  attention  to  the  forgery  every 
time  he  quoted  a  document  by  his  elaborate  ex 
planation  that  he  belived,  unless  there  was  some 
mistake  on  the  part  of  those  with  whom  the  mat 
ter  originated  and  which  he  had  been  unable  to 
detect,  that  this  was  correct.  Once  when  Douglas 
brought  forward  a  document,  Lincoln  blandly  re 
marked  that  he  could  scarcely  be  blamed  for  doubt 
ing  its  genuineness  since  the  introduction  of  the 
Springfield  resolutions  at  Ottawa. 

It  was  in  the  second  debate,  at  Freeport,  that 
Lincoln  made  the  boldest  stroke  of  the  contest. 
Soon  after  the  Ottawa  debate,  in  discussing  his  plan 


66  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

for  the  next  encounter,  with  a  number  of  his  po 
litical  friends, —  Washburne,  Cook,  Judd,  and 
others, —  he  told  them  he  proposed  to  ask  Doug 
las  four  questions,  which  he  read.  One  and  all 
cried  halt  at  the  second  question.  Under  no  con 
dition,  they  said,  must  he  put  it.  If  it  were  put, 
Douglas  would  answer  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  win 
the  senatorship.  The  morning  of  the  debate,  while 
on  the  way  to  Freeport,  Lincoln  read  the  same 
questions  to  Mr.  Joseph  Medill.  "  I  do  not  like 
this  second  question,  Mr.  Lincoln,"  said  Mr.  Medill. 
The  two  men  argued  to  their  journey's  end,  but 
Lincoln  was  still  unconvinced.  Even  after  he 
reached  Freeport  several  Republican  leaders  came 
to  him  pleading,  "  Do  not  ask  that  question."  He 
was  obdurate;  and  he  went  on  the  platform  with 
a  higher  head,  a  haughtier  step  than  his  friends 
had  noted  in  him  before.  Lincoln  was  going  to 
ruin  himself,  the  committee  said  despondently ;  one 
would  think  he  did  not  want  the  senatorship. 

The  mooted  question  ran  in  Lincoln's  notes: 
"  Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  territory  in 
any  lawful  way,  against  the  wish  of  any  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits 
prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution  ?  " 
Lincoln  had  seen  the  irreconcilableness  of  Doug 
las's  own  measure  of  popular  sovereignty,  which 
declared  that  the  people  of  a  territory  should  be 
left  to  regulate  their  domestic  concerns  in  their 
own  way  subject  only  to  the  Constitution,  and  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott 
case  that  slaves,  being  property,  could  not  under 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  67 

the  Constitution  be  excluded  from  a  territory.  He 
knew  that  if  Douglas  said  no  to  this  question,  his 
Illinois  constituents  would  never  return  him  to  the 
Senate.  He  believed  that  if  he  said  yes,  the  people 
of  the  South  would  never  vote  for  him  for  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  He  was  willing  him 
self  to  lose  the  senatorship  in  order  to  defeat  Doug 
las  for  the  Presidency  in  1860.  "  I  am  after  larger 
game;  the  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of 
this,"  he  said  confidently. 

The  question  was  put,  and  Douglas  answered  it 
with  rare  artfulness.  "  It  matters  not,"  he  cried, 
"  what  way  the  Supreme  Court  may  hereafter  de 
cide  as  to  the  abstract  question  whether  slavery  may 
or  may  not  go  into  a  territory  under  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  intro 
duce  it  or  exclude  it  as  they  please,  for  the  reason 
that  slavery  cannot  exist  a  day  or  an  hour  anywhere 
unless  it  is  supported  by  local  police  regulations. 
Those  police  regulations  can  only  be  established  by 
the  local  legislature,  and  if  the  people  are  opposed 
to  slavery,  they  will  elect  representatives  to  that 
body  who  will,  by  unfriendly  legislation,  effectually 
prevent  the  introduction  of  it  into  their  midst.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  they  are  for  it,  their  legislature  will 
favor  its  extension." 

His  democratic  constituents  went  wild  over  the 
clever  way  in  which  Douglas  had  escaped  Lincoln's 
trap.  He  now  practically  had  his  election.  The 
Republicans  shook  their  heads.  Lincoln  only  was 
serene.  He  alone  knew  what  he  had  done.  The 
Freeport  debate  had  no  sooner  reached  the  pro- 


68  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

slavery  press  than  a  storm  of  protest  went  up. 
Douglas  had  betrayed  the  South.  He  had  repudi 
ated  the  Supreme  Court  decision.  He  had  declared 
that  slavery  could  be  kept  out  of  the  territories  by 
other  legislation  than  a  State  Constitution.  "  The 
Freeport  doctrine,"  or  "  the  theory  of  unfriendly 
legislation/'  as  it  became  known,  spread  month  by 
month,  and  slowly  but  surely  made  Douglas  an  im 
possible  candidate  in  the  South.  The  force  of  the 
question  was  not  realized  in  full  by  Lincoln's 
friends  until  the  Democratic  party  met  in  Charles 
ton,  S.  C,  in  1860,  and  the  Southern  delegates  re 
fused  to  support  Douglas  because  of  the  answer 
he  gave  to  Lincoln's  question  in  the  Freeport  de 
bate  of  1858. 

"  Do  you  recollect  the  argument  we  had  on  the 
way  up  to  Freeport  two  years  ago  over  the  question 
I  was  going  to  ask  Judge  Douglas  ?  "  Lincoln  asked 
Mr.  Joseph  Medill,  when  the  latter  went  to  Spring 
field  a  few  days  after  the  election  of  1860. 

"  Yes,"  said  Medill,  "  I  recollect  it  very  well." 
"  Don't  you  think  I  was  right  now  ?  " 
"  We  were  both  right.     The  question  hurt  Doug 
las  for  the  Presidency,  but  it  lost  you  the  senator- 
ship." 

"  Yes,  and  I  have  won  the  place  he  was  playing 
for." 

From  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  Lincoln 
supplemented  the  strength  of  his  arguments  by  in 
exhaustible  good  humor.  Douglas,  physically  worn, 
harassed  by  the  trend  which  Lincoln  had  given 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  69 

the  discussions,  irritated  that  his  adroitness  and 
eloquence  could  not  so  cover  the  fundamental  truth 
of  the  Republican  position  but  that  it  would  up 
again,  often  grew  angry,  even  abusive.  Lincoln 
answered  him  with  most  effective  raillery.  At  Ha 
vana,  where  he  spoke  the  day  after  Douglas,  he 
said: 

"  I  am  informed  that  my  distinguished  friend  yes 
terday  became  a  little  excited  —  nervous,  perhaps 
—  and  he  said  something  about  fighting,  as  though 
referring  to  a  pugilistic  encounter  between  him  and 
myself.  Did  anybody  in  this  audience  hear  him 
use  such  language?  (Cries  of  "  Yes.")  I  am  in 
formed  further,  that  somebody  in  his  audience, 
rather  more  excited  and  nervous  than  himself,  took 
off  his  coat,  and  offered  to  take  the  job  off  Judge 
Douglas's  hands,  and  fight  Lincoln  himself.  Did 
anybody  here  witness  that  war-like  proceeding? 
(Laughter  and  cries  of  "  Yes.")  Well,  I  merely 
desire  to  say  that  I  shall  fight  neither  Judge  Doug 
las  nor  his  second.  I  shall  not  do  this  for  two 
reasons,  which  I  will  now  explain.  In  the  first 
place,  a  fight  would  prove  nothing  which  is  in  issue 
in  this  contest.  It  might  establish  that  Judge  Doug 
las  is  a  more  muscular  man  than  myself,  or  it 
might  demonstrate  that  I  am  a  more  muscular  man 
than  Judge  Douglas.  But  this  question  is  not  re 
ferred  to  in  the  Cincinnati  platform,  nor  in  either 
of  the  Springfield  platforms.  Neither  result  would 
prove  him  right  nor  me  wrong ;  and  so  of  the  gen 
tleman  who  volunteered  to  do  this  fighting  for  him. 


70  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

If  my  fighting  Judge  Douglas  would  not  prove  any 
thing,  it  would  certainly  prove  nothing  for  me  to 
fight  his  bottle-holder. 

"  My  second  reason  for  not  having  a  personal 
encounter  with  the  judge  is,  that  I  don't  believe  he 
wants  it  himself.  He  and  I  are  about  the  best 
friends  in  the  world,  and  when  we  get  together  he 
would  no  more  think  of  fighting  me  than  of  fight 
ing  his  wife.  Therefore,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
when  the  judge  talked  about  fighting,  he  was  not 
giving  vent  to  any  ill  feeling  of  his  own,  but  merely 
trying  to  excite  —  wrell,  enthusiasm  against  me  on 
the  part  of  his  audience.  And  as  I  find  he  was  tol 
erably  successful,  we  will  call  it  quits." 

More  difficult  for  Lincoln  to  take  good-naturedly 
than  threats  and  hard  names  was  the  irrelevant 
matters  which  Douglas  dragged  into  the  debates 
to  turn  attention  from  the  vital  arguments.  Thus 
Douglas  insisted  repeatedly  on  taunting  Lincoln  be 
cause  his  zealous  friends  had  carried  him  off  the 
platform  at  Ottawa.  "  Lincoln  was  so  frightened 
by  the  questions  put  to  him,"  said  Douglas,  "  that 
he  could  not  walk."  He  tried  to  arouse  the  preju 
dice  of  the  audience  by  absurd  charges  of  abolition 
ism.  Lincoln  wanted  to  give  negroes  social  equal 
ity  ;  he  wanted  a  negro  wife ;  he  was  willing  to 
allow  Fred  Douglass  to  make  speeches  for  him. 
Again  he  took  up  a  good  deal  of  Lincoln's  time  by 
forcing  him  to  answer  to  a  charge  of  refusing  to 
vote  supplies  for  the  soldiers  in  the  Mexican  War. 
Lincoln  denied  and  explained,  until  at  last,  at 
Charleston,  he  turned  suddenly  to  Douglas's  sup- 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  71 

porters,  dragging  one  of  the  strongest  of  them  — 
the  Hon.  O.  B.  Ficklin,  with  whom  he  had  been  in 
Congress  in  1848  —  to  the  platform. 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  do  anything  with  Mr.  Fick 
lin,"  he  said,  "  except  to  present  his  face  and  tell 
you  that  he  personally  knows  it  to  be  a  lie."  And 
Mr.  Ficklin  had  to  acknowledge  that  Lincoln  was 
right. 

"  Judge  Douglas,"  said  Lincoln  in  speaking  of 
this  policy,  "  is  playing  cuttlefish  —  a  small  species 
of  fish  that  has  no  mode  of  defending  himself  when 
pursued  except  by  throwing  out  a  black  fluid  which 
makes  the  water  so  dark  the  enemy  cannot  see  it, 
and  thus  it  escapes." 

The  question  at  stake  was  too  serious  'in  Lin 
coln's  judgment,  for  platform  jugglery.  Every 
moment  of  his  time  which  Douglas  forced  him  to 
spend  answering  irrelevant  charges  he  gave  be- 
grudgingly.  He  struggled  constantly  to  keep  his 
speeches  on  the  line  of  solid  argument.  Slowly  but 
surely  those  who  followed  the  debates  began  to 
understand  this.  It  was  Douglas  who  drew  the 
great  masses  to  the  debates  in  the  first  place ;  it 
was  because  of  him  that  the  public  men  and  the 
newspapers  of  the  East,  as  well  as  of  the  West, 
watched  the  discussions.  But  as  the  days  went  on 
it  was  not  Douglas  who  made  the  impression. 

During  the  hours  of  the  speeches  the  two  men 
seemed  well  mated.  "  I  can  recall  only  one  fact 
of  the  debates,"  says  Mrs.  William  Crotty,  of 
Seneca,  Illinois,  "  that  I  felt  so  sorry  for  Lincoln 
when  Douglas  was  speaking,  and  then  to  my  sur- 


72  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

prise  I  felt  so  sorry  for  Douglas  when  Lincoln  re 
plied."  The  disinterested  to  whom  it  was  an  intel 
lectual  game,  felt  the  power  and  charm  of  both 
men.  Partisans  had  each  reason  enough  to  cheer. 
It  was  afterwards,  as  the  debates  were  talked  over 
by  auditors  as  they  lingered  at  the  country  store  or 
were  grouped  on  the  fence  in  the  evening,  or  when 
they  were  read  in  the  generous  reports  which  the 
newspapers  of  Illinois  and  even  of  other  States  gave, 
that  the  thoroughness  of  Lincoln's  argument  was 
understood.  Even  the  first  debate  at  Ottawa  had  a 
surprising  effect.  "  I  tell  you,"  says  Mr.  George 
Beatty  of  Ottawa,  "  that  debate  set  people  think 
ing  on  these  important  questions  in  a  way  they 
hadn't  dreamed  of.  I  heard  any  number  of  men 
say :  *  This  thing  is  an  awfully  serious  question, 
and  I  have  about  concluded  Lincoln  has  got  it 
right/  My  father,  a  thoughtful,  God-fearing  man, 
said  to  me,  as  we  went  home  to  supper,  '  George, 
you  are  young,  and  don't  see  what  this  thing  means, 
as  I  do.  Douglas's  speeches  of  "  squatter  sover 
eignty  "  please  you  younger  men,  but  I  tell  you  that 
with  us  older  men  it's  a  great  question  that  faces  us. 
We've  either  got  to  keep  slavery  back  or  it's  going 
to  spread  all  over  the  country.  That's  the  real 
question  that's  behind  all  this.  Lincoln  is  right/ 
And  that  was  the  feeling  that  prevailed,  I  think, 
among  the  majority,  after  the  debate  was  over. 
People  went  home  talking  about  the  danger  of 
slavery  getting  a  hold  in  the  North.  This  territory 
had  been  Democratic;  La  Salle  County,  the  morn 
ing  of  the  day  of  the  debate,  was  Democratic ;  but 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  73 

when  the  next  day  came  around,  hundreds  of  Dem 
ocrats  had  been  made  Republicans,  owing  to  the 
light  in  which  Lincoln  had  brought  forward  the 
fact  that  slavery  threatened." 

It  was  among  Lincoln's  own  friends,  however, 
that  his  speeches  produced  the  deepest  impression. 
They  had  believed  him  to  be  strong,  but  probably 
there  was  no  one  of  them  who  had  not  felt  dubious 
about  his  ability  to  meet  Douglas.  Many  even 
feared  a  fiasco.  Gradually  it  began  to  be  clear  to 
them  that  Lincoln  was  the  stronger.  Could  it  be 
that  Lincoln  really  was  a  great  man?  The  young 
Republican  journalists  of  the  "  Press  and  Trib 
une  "  —  Scripps,  Hitt,  Medill  —  began  to  ask  them 
selves  the  question.  One  evening  as  they  talked 
over  Lincoln's  argument  a  letter  was  received.  It 
came  from  a  prominent  Eastern  statesman.  "  Who 
is  this  man  that  is  replying  to  Douglas  in  your 
State  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Do  you  realize  that  no  greater 
speeches  have  been  made  on  public  questions  in  the 
history  of  our  country ;  that  his  knowledge  of  the 
subject  is  profound,  his  logical  unanswerable,  his 
style  inimitable  ? "  Similar  letters  kept  coming 
from  various  parts  of  the  country.  Before  the 
campaign  was  over  Lincoln's  friends  were  exultant. 
Their  favorite  was  a  great  man,  "  a  full-grown 
man,"  as  one  of  them  wrote  in  his  paper. 

The  country  at  large  watched  Lincoln  with  as 
tonishment.  When  the  debates  began  there  were 
Republicans  in  Illinois  of  wider  national  reputa 
tion.  Judge  Lyman  Trumbull,  then  Senator;  was 
better  known.  He  was  an  able  debater,  and  a 


74  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

speech  which  he  made  in  August  against  Douglas's 
record  called  from  the  New  York  "  Evening  Post  " 
the  remark :  "  This  is  the  heaviest  blow  struck  at 
Senator  Douglas  since  he  took  the  field  in  Illinois; 
it  is  unanswerable,  and  we  suspect  that  it  will  be 
fatal."  Trmnbull's  speech  the  "  Post "  afterwards 
published  in  pamphlet  form.  Besides  Trumbull, 
Owen  Love  joy,  Oglesby,  and  Palmer  were  all  speak 
ing.  That  Lincoln  should  not  only  have  so  far  out 
stripped  men  of  his  own  party,  but  should  have 
out-argued  Douglas,  was  the  cause  of  comment 
everywhere.  "  No  man  of  this  generation,"  said  the 
"  Evening  Post "  editorially,  at  the  close  of  the 
debate,  "  has  grown  more  rapidly  before  the  country 
than  Lincoln  in  this  canvass."  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  Lincoln  had  attracted  the  attention  of  all  the 
thinking  men  of  the  country.  "  The  first  thing  that 
really  awakened  my  interest  in  him,"  says  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  "  was  his  speech  parallel  with 
Douglas  in  Illinois,  and  indeed  it  was  that  mani 
festation  of  ability  that  secured  his  nomination  to 
the  Presidency." 

But  able  as  were  Lincoln's  arguments,  deep  as 
was  the  impression  he  had  made,  he  was  not  elected 
to  the  senatorship.  Douglas  won  fairly  enough; 
though  it  is  well  to  note  that  if  the  Republicans  did 
not  elect  a  senator  they  gained  a  substantial  num 
ber  of  votes  over  those  polled  in  1856. 

Lincoln  accepted  the  result  with  a  serenity  inex 
plicable  to  his  supporters.  To  him  the  contest  was 
but  one  battle  in  a  "  durable "  struggle.  Little 
matter  who  won  now,  if  in  the  end  the  right  tri- 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  75 

umphed.  From  the  first  he  had  looked  at  the  final 
result  —  not  at  the  senatorship.  "  I  do  not  claim, 
gentlemen,  to  be  unselfish,"  he  said  at  Chicago  in 
July.  "  I  do  not  pretend  that  I  would  not  like  to 
go  to  the  United  States  Senate;  I  make  no  such 
hypocritical  pretense;  but  I  do  say  to  you  that  in 
this  mighty  issue,  it  is  nothing  to  you,  nothing  to 
the  mass  of  the  people  of  the  nation,  whether  or 
not  Judge  Douglas  or  myself  shall  ever  be  heard 
of  after  this  night ;  it  may  be  a  trifle  to  either  of  us, 
but  in  connection  with  this  mighty  question,  upon 
which  hang  the  destinies  of  the  nation  perhaps,  it 
is  absolutely  nothing." 

The  intense  heat  and  fury  of  the  debates,  the  de 
feat  in  November,  did  not  alter  a  jot  this  high  view. 
"  I  am  glad  I  made  the  late  race,"  he  wrote  Dr.  A. 
H.  Henry.  "  It  gave  me  a  hearing  on  the  great 
and  durable  question  of  the  age  which  I  would 
have  had  in  no  other  way ;  and  though  I  now  sink 
out  of  view  and  shall  be  forgotten,  I  believe  I  have 
made  some  marks  which  will  tell  for  the  cause  of 
civil  liberty  long  after  I  am  gone." 

At  that  date  perhaps  no  one  appreciated  the  value 
of  what  Lincoln  had  done  as  well  as  he  did  himself. 
He  was  absolutely  sure  he  was  right  and  that  in 
the  end  people  would  see  it.  Though  he  might  not 
rise,  he  knew  his  cause  would. 

"  Douglas  had  the  ingenuity  to  be  supported  in 
the  late  contest  both  as  the  best  means  to  break 
down  and  to  uphold  the  slave  interest,"  he  wrote. 
"  No  ingenuity  can  keep  these  antagonistic  elements 
in  harmony  long.  Another  explosion  will  soon  oc- 


76  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

cur."  His  whole  attention  was  given  to  conserv 
ing  what  the  Republicans  had  gained  —  "  We  have 
some  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  clear  Re 
publican  votes.  That  pile  is  worth  keeping  to 
gether  ;  "  to  consoling  his  friends  —  "  You  are  feel 
ing  badly/'  he  wrote  to  N.  B.  Judd,  Chairman  of 
the  Republican  Committee,  "  and  this  too  shall  pass 
away,  never  fear " ;  to  rallying  for  another  ef 
fort, — "The  cause  of  civil  liberty  must  not  be 
surrendered  at  the  end  of  one  or  even  one  hundred 
defeats." 

If  Lincoln  had  at  times  a  fear  that  his  defeat 
would  cause  him  to  be  set  aside,  it  soon  was  dis 
pelled.  The  interest  awakened  in  him  was  genuine, 
and  it  spread  with  the  wider  reading  and  discus 
sion  of  his  arguments.  He  was  besieged  by  letters 
from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  congratulations,  en 
couragements,  criticisms.  Invitations  for  lectures 
poured  in  upon  him,  and  he  became  the  first  choice 
of  his  entire  party  for  political  speeches. 

The  greater  number  of  these  invitations  he  de 
clined.  He  had  given  so  much  time  to  politics  since 
1854  that  his  law  practice  had  been  neglected  and 
he  was  feeling  poor ;  but  there  were  certain  of  the 
calls  which  could  not  be  resisted.  Douglas  spoke 
several  times  for  the  Democrats  of  Ohio  in  the 
1859  campaign  for  governor  and  Lincoln  naturally 
was  asked  to  reply.  He  made  but  two  speeches, 
one  at  Columbus  on  September  16  and  the  other  at 
Cincinnati  on  September  17,  but  he  had  great  audi 
ences  on  both  occasions.  The  Columbus  speech 
was  devoted  almost  entirely  to  answering  an  essay 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  77 

by  Douglas  which  had  been  published  in  the  Sep 
tember  number  of  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  and 
which  began  by  asserting  that  —  "  Under  our  com 
plex  system  of  government  it  is  the  first  duty  of 
American  statesmen  to  mark  distinctly  the  divid 
ing-line  between  Federal  and  Local  authority."  It 
was  an  elaborate  argument  for  "  popular  sover 
eignty  "  and  attracted  national  attention.  In 
deed,  at  the  moment  it  was  the  talk  of  the  country. 
Lincoln  literally  tore  it  to  bits. 

"  What  is  Judge  Douglas's  popular  sovereignty?  " 
he  asked.  "  It  is,  as  a  principle,  no  other  than  that 
if  one  man  chooses  to  make  a  slave  of  another  man, 
neither  that  other  man  nor  anybody  else  has  a 
right  to  object.  Applied  in  government,  as  he 
seeks  to  apply  it,  it  is  this:  If,  in  a  new  territory 
into  which  a  few  people  are  beginning  to  enter  for 
the  purpose  of  making  their  homes,  they  choose 
to  either  exclude  from  their  limits  or  to  establish 
it  there,  however  one  or  the  other  may  affect  the 
persons  to  be  enslaved,  or  the  infinitely  greater 
number  of  persons  who  are  afterward  to  inhabit 
that  territory,  or  the  other  members  of  the  fami 
lies,  or  communities,  of  which  they  are  but  an  in 
cipient  member,  or  the  general  head  of  the  family 
of  States  as  parent  of  all  —  however  their  action 
may  affect  one  or  the  other  of  these,  there  is  no 
power  or  right  to  interfere.  That  is  Douglas's 
popular  sovereignty  applied." 

It  was  in  this  address  that  Lincoln  uttered  the 
oft-quoted  paragraphs : 

41 1  suppose  the  institution  of  slavery  really  looks 


78  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

small  to  him.  He  is  so  put  up  by  nature  that  a 
lash  upon  his  back  would  hurt  him,  but  a  lash  upon 
anybody  else's  back  does  not  hurt  him.  That  is 
the  build  of  the  man,  and  consequently  he  looks 
upon  the  matter  of  slavery  in  this  unimportant 
light. 

"  Judge  Douglas  ought  to  remember,  when  he  is 
endeavoring  to  force  this  policy  upon  the  Ameri 
can  people,  that  while  he  is  put  up  in  that  way,  a 
good  many  are  not.  He  ought  to  remember  that 
there  was  once  in  this  country  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  supposed  to  be  a  Democrat  — 
a  man  whose  principles  and  policy  are  not  very 
prevalent  amongst  Democrats  to-day,  it  is  true; 
but  that  man  did  not  exactly  take  this  view  of  the 
insignificance  of  the  element  of  slavery  which  our 
friend  Judge  Douglas  does.  In  contemplation  of 
this  thing,  we  all  know  he  was  led  to  exclaim,  '  I 
tremble  for  my  country  when  I  remember  that 
God  is  just!'  We  know  how  he  looked  upon  it 
when  he  thus  expressed  himself.  There  was  dan 
ger  to  this  country,  danger  of  the  avenging  justice 
of  God,  in  that  little  unimportant  popular  sover 
eignty  question  of  Judge  Douglas.  He  supposed 
there  was  a  question  of  God's  eternal  justice 
wrapped  up  in  the  enslaving  of  any  race  of  men, 
or  any  man,  and  that  those  who  did  so  braved  the 
arm  of  Jehovah  —  that  when  a  nation  thus  dared 
the  Almighty,  every  friend  of  that  nation  had  cause 
to  dread  his  wrath.  Choose  ye  between  Jefferson 
and  Douglas  as  to  what  is  the  true  view  of  this 
element  among  us." 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  79 

One  interesting  point  about  the  Columbus  ad 
dress  is  that  in  it  appears  the  germ  of  the  Cooper 
Institute  speech  delivered  five  months  later  in  New 
York  City. 

Lincoln  made  so  deep  an  impression  in  Ohio  by 
his  speeches  that  the  State  Republican  Committee 
asked  permission  to  publish  them  together  with 
the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates  as  campaign  docu 
ments  in  the  Presidential  election  of  the  next  year. 

In  December  he  yielded  to  the  persuasion  of  his 
Kansas  political  friends  and  delivered  five  lectures 
in  that  State,  only  fragments  of  which  have  been 
preserved. 

Unquestionably  the  most  effective  piece  of  work 
he  did  that  winter  was  the  address  at  Cooper  In 
stitute,  New  York,  on  February  27.  He  had  re 
ceived  an  invitation  in  the  fall  of  1859  to  lecture 
at  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn.  To  his  friends  it 
was  evident  that  he  was  greatly  pleased  by  the 
compliment,  but  that  he  feared  that  he  was  not 
equal  to  an  Eastern  audience.  After  some  hesita 
tion  he  accepted,  provided  they  would  take  a  politi 
cal  speech  if  he  could  find  time  to  get  up  no  other. 
When  he  reached  New  York  he  found  that  he  was 
to  speak  there  instead  of  Brooklyn,  and  that  he  was 
certain  to  have  a  distinguished  audience.  Fear 
ful  lest  he  was  not  as  well  prepared  as  he  ought  to 
be,  conscious,  too,  no  doubt,  that  he  had  a  great 
opportunity  before  him,  he  spent  nearly  all  of  the 
two  days  and  a  half  before  his  lecture  in  revising 
his  matter  and  in  familiarizing  himself  with  it. 
In  order  that  he  might  be  sure  that  he  was  heard 


8o  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

he  arranged  with  his  friend,  Mason  Brayman,  who 
had  come  on  to  New  York  with  him,  to  sit  in  the 
back  of  the  hall  and  in  case  he  did  not  speak  loud 
enough  to  raise  his  high  hat  on  a  cane. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  audience  was  a  notable  one  even 
for  New  York.  It  included  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
who  introduced  him;  Horace  Greeley,  David  Dud 
ley  Field,  and  many  more  well  known  men  of  the 
day.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  were  any  persons  pres 
ent,  even  his  best  friends,  who  expected  that  Lin 
coln  would  do  more  than  interest  his  hearers  by  his 
sound  arguments.  Many  have  confessed  since  that 
they  feared  his  queer  manner  and  quaint  speeches 
would  amuse  people  so  much  that  they  would  fail  to 
catch  the  weight  of  his  logic.  But  to  the  surprise  of 
everybody  Lincoln  impressed  his  audience  from  the 
start  by  his  dignity  and  his  seriousness.  "  His 
manner  was,  to  a  New  York  audience,  a  very 
strange  one,  but  it  was  captivating,"  wrote  an  audi 
tor.  "  He  held  the  vast  meeting  spellbound,  and 
as  one  by  one  his  oddly  expressed  but  trenchant 
and  convincing  arguments  confirmed  the  soundness 
of  his  political  conclusions,  the  house  broke  out  in 
wild  and  prolonged  enthusiasm.  I  think  I  never 
saw  an  audience  more  thoroughly  carried  away  by 
an  orator." 

The  Cooper  Union  speech  was  founded  on  a 
sentence  from  one  of  Douglas's  Ohio  speeches :  — 
"  Our  fathers  when  they  framed  the  government 
under  which  we  live  understood  this  question  just 
as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now." 
Douglas  claimed  that  the  "  fathers  "  held  that  the 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  81 

Constitution  forbade  the  Federal  government  con 
trolling  slavery  in  the  Territories.  Lincoln  with  in 
finite  care  had  investigated  the  opinions  and  votes 
of  each  of  the  "  fathers  "  —  whom  he  took  to  be 
the  thirty-nine  men  who  signed  the  Constitution  — 
and  showed  conclusively  that  a  majority  of  them 
"  certainly  understood  that  no  proper  division  of 
local  from  Federal  authority  nor  any  part  of  the 
Constitution  forbade  the  Federal  government  to 
control  slavery  in  the  Federal  Territories."  Not 
only  did  he  show  this  of  the  thirty-nine  framers  of 
the  original  Constitution,  but  he  defied  anybody 
to  show  that  one  of  the  seventy-six  members  of  the 
Congress  which  framed  the  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  ever  held  any  such  view. 

"  Let  us/'  he  said,  "  who  believe  that  '  our  fath 
ers  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we 
live  understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even 
better,  than  we  do  now/  speak  as  they  spoke,  and 
act  as  they  acted  upon  it.  This  is  all  Republicans 
ask  —  all  Republicans  desire  —  in  relation  to 
slavery.  As  those  fathers  marked  it,  so  let  it  be 
again  marked,  as  an  evil  not  to  be  extended,  but  to 
be  tolerated  and  protected  only  because  of  and  so 
far  as  its  actual  presence  among  us  makes  that 
toleration  and  protection  a  necessity.  Let  all  the 
guaranties  those  fathers  gave  it  be  not  grudgingly, 
but  fully  and  fairly,  maintained.  For  this  Republi 
cans  contend,  and  with  this,  so  far  as  I  know  or 
believe,  they  will  be  content." 

One  after  another  he  took  up  and  replied  to  the 
charges  the  South  was  making  against  the  North 


82  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

at  the  moment :  —  Sectionalism,  radicalism,  giving 
undue  prominence  to  the  slave  question,  stirring  up 
insurrection  among  slaves,  refusing  to  allow  consti 
tutional  rights,  and  to  each  he  had  an  unimpas- 
sioned  answer  inpregnable  with  facts. 

The  discourse  was  ended  with  what  Lincoln  felt 
to  be  a  precise  statement  of  the  opinion  of  the 
question  on  both  sides,  and  of  the  duty  of  the  Re 
publican  party  under  the  circumstances.  This  por 
tion  of  his  address  is  one  of  the  finest  early  ex 
amples  of  that  simple  and  convincing  style  in  which 
most  of  his  later  public  documents  were  written. 

"  If  slavery  is  right,"  he  said,  "  all  words,  acts, 
laws,  and  constitutions  against  it  are  themselves 
wrong,  and  should  be  silenced  and  swept  away. 
If  it  is  right,  we  cannot  justly  object  to  its  nation 
ality  —  its  universality ;  if  it  is  wrong,  they  cannot 
justly  insist  upon  its  extension  —  its  enlargement. 
All  they  ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought 
slavery  right;  all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily 
grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong.  Their  thinking 
it  right  and  our  thinking  it  wrong  is  the  precise 
fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole  controversy. 
Thinking  it  right,  as  they  do,  they  are  not  to  blame 
for  desiring  its  full  recognition  as  being  right ;  but 
thinking  it  wrong,  as  we  do,  can  we  yield  to  them  ? 
Can  we  cast  our  votes  with  their  views,  and  against 
our  own  ?  In  view  of  our  moral,  social,  and  polit 
ical  responsibilities,  can  we  do  this? 

"  Wrong,  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  af 
ford  to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is 
due  to  the  necessity  arising  from  its  actual  pres- 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  83 

ence  in  the  nation ;  but  can  we,  while  our  votes  will 
prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national  Ter 
ritories,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  these  free  States  ? 
If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand 
by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be 
diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical  contrivances 
wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied  and  bela 
bored —  contrivances  such  as  groping  for  some 
middle  ground  between  right  and  wrong:  vain  as 
the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be  neither  a  living 
man  nor  a  dead  man ;  such  as  a  policy  of  *  don't 
care '  on  a  question  about  which  all  true  men  do 
care ;  such  as  Union  appeals  beseeching  true  Union 
men  to  yield  to  Disunionists,  reversing  the  divine 
rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but  the  righteous 
to  repentance;  such  as  invocations  to  Washington, 
imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Washington  said  and 
undo  what  Washington  did. 

"  Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by 
false  accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it 
by  menaces  of  destruction  to  the  government,  nor 
of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that 
right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the 
end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 

From  New  York  Lincoln  went  to  New  Hamp 
shire  to  visit  his  son  Robert,  then  at  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy.  His  coming  was  known  only  a  short 
time  before  he  arrived  and  hurried  arrangements 
were  made  for  him  to  speak  at  Concord,  Manches 
ter,  Exeter  and  Dover.  At  Concord  the  address 
was  made  in  the  afternoon  on  only  a  few  hours' 
notice;  nevertheless,  he  had  a  great  audience,  so 


84  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

eager  were  men  at  the  time  to  hear  anybody  who 
had  serious  arguments  on  the  slavery  question. 
Something  of  the  impression  Lincoln  made  in  New 
Hampshire  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
article,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  in  New  Hampshire,"  which 
appeared  in  the  Boston  "  Atlas  and  Bee "  for 
March  5: 

The  Concord  "  Statesman "  says  that  notwith 
standing  the  rain  of  Thursday,  rendering  travelling 
very  inconvenient,  the  largest  hall  in  that  city  was 
crowded  to  hear  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  editor  says 
it  was  one  of  the  most  powerful,  logical  and  com 
pacted  speeches  to  which  it  was  ever  our  fortune 
to  listen ;  an  argument  against  the  system  of  slav 
ery,  and  in  defence  of  the  position  of  the  Republi 
can  party,  from  the  deductions  of  which  no  reason 
able  man  could  possibly  escape.  He  fortified  every 
position  assumed,  by  proofs  which  it  is  impossible 
to  gainsay;  and  while  his  speech  was  at  intervals 
enlivened  by  remarks  which  elicited  applause  at  the 
expense  of  the  Democratic  party,  there  was,  never 
theless,  not  a  single  word  which  tended  to  impair 
the  dignity  of  the  speaker,  or  weaken  the  force  of 
the  great  truths  he  uttered. 

The  "Statesman"  adds  that  the  address  "was 
perfect  and  was  closed  by  a  peroration  which 
brought  his  audience  to  their  feet.  We  are  not  ex 
travagant  in  the  remark,  that  a  political  speech  of 
greater  power  has  rarely  if  ever  been  uttered  in 
the  Capital  of  New  Hampshire.  At  its  conclusion 
nine  roof-raising  cheers  were  given;  three  for  the 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  85 

speaker,  three  for  the  Republicans  of  Illinois,  and 
three  for  the  Republicans  of  New  Hampshire." 

On  the  same  evening  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  Man 
chester,  to  an  immense  gathering  in  Smyth's  Hall. 
The  "  Mirror,"  a  neutral  paper,  gives  the  following 
enthusiastic  notice  of  his  speech :  "  The  audience 
was  a  flattering  one  to  the  reputation  of  the  speaker. 
It  was  composed  of  persons  of  all  sorts  of  political 
notions,  earnest  to  hear  one  whose  fame  was  so 
great,  and  we  think  most  of  them  went  away  think 
ing  better  of  him  than  they  anticipated  they  should. 
He  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half  with  great  fairness, 
great  apparent  candor,  and  with  wonderful  interest. 
He  did  not  abuse  the  South,  the  Administration,  or 
the  Democrats,  or  indulge  in  any  personalities,  with 
the  solitary  exception  of  a  few  hits  at  Douglas's 
notions.  He  is  far  from  prepossessing  in  personal 
appearance,  and  his  voice  is  disagreeable,  and  yet 
he  wins  your  attention  and  good  will  from  the 
start. 

"  He  indulges  in  no  flowers  of  rhetoric,  no  elo 
quent  passages ;  he  is  not  a  wit,  a  humorist  or  a 
clown ;  yet,  so  great  a  vein  of  pleasantry  and  good 
nature  pervades  what  he  says,  gliding  over  a  deep 
current  of  practical  argument,  he  keeps  his  hearers 
in  a  smiling  good  mood  with  their  mouths  open 
ready  to  swallow  all  he  says.  His  sense  of  the 
ludicrous  is  very  keen,  and  an  exhibition  of  that  is 
the  clincher  of  all  his  arguments ;  not  the  ludicrous 
acts  of  persons,  but  ludicrous  ideas.  Hence  he  is 
never  offensive,  and  steals  away  willingly  into  his 


86  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

train  of  belief,  persons  who  are  opposed  to  him. 
For  the  first  half  hour  his  opponents  would  agree 
with  every  word  he  uttered,  and  from  that  point  he 
began  to  lead  them  off,  little  by  little,  cunningly,  till 
it  seemed  as  if  he  had  got  them  all  into  his  fold. 
He  displays  more  shrewdness,  more  knowledge  of 
the  masses  of  mankind  than  any  public  speaker  we 
have  heard  since  long  Jim  Wilson  left  for  Cali 
fornia." 

From  New  Hampshire  Lincoln  went  to  Connecti 
cut,  where  on  March  5  he  spoke  at  Hartford,  on 
March  6  at  New  Haven,  on  March  8  at  Woon- 
socket,  on  March  9  at  Norwich.  There  are  no  re 
ports  of  the  New  Hampshire  speeches,  but  two 
of  the  Connecticut  speeches  were  published  in  part 
and  one  in  full.  Their  effect  was  very  similar,  ac 
cording  to  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  to  that  in 
New  Hampshire,  described  by  the  "  Atlas  and 
Bee." 

By  his  debates  with  Douglas  and  the  speeches  in 
Ohio,  Kansas,  New  York  and  New  England,  Lin 
coln  had  become  a  national  figure  in  the  minds  of 
all  the  political  leaders  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
thinking  men  of  the  North.  Never  in  the  history 
of  the  United  States  had  a  man  become  prominent 
in  a  more  logical  and  intelligent  way.  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  struggle  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  in  1854,  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  scarcely  known  outside  of  his  own  State.  Even 
most  of  the  men  whom  he  had  met  in  his  brief  term 
in  Congress  had  forgotten  him.  Yet  in  four  years 
he  had  become  one  of  the  central  figures  of  his 


A  NATIONAL  FIGURE  87 

party ;  and  now,  by  worsting  the  greatest  orator  and 
politician  of  his  time,  he  had  drawn  the  eyes  of  the 
nation  to  him. 

It  had  been  a  long  road  he  had  travelled  to  make 
himself  a  national  figure.  Twenty-eight  years  be 
fore  he  had  deliberately  entered  politics.  He  had 
been  beaten,  but  had  persisted;  he  had  succeeded 
and  failed;  he  had  abandoned  the  struggle  and 
returned  to  his  profession.  His  outraged  sense  of 
justice  had  driven  him  back,  and  for  six  years  he 
had  travelled  up  and  down  Illinois  trying  to  prove 
to  men  that  slavery  extension  was  wrong.  It  was 
by  no  one  speech,  by  no  one  argument  that  he  had 
wrought.  Every  day  his  ceaseless  study  and  pon 
dering  gave  him  new  matter,  and  every  speech  he 
made  was  fresh.  He  could  not  repeat  an  old 
speech,  he  said,  because  the  subject  enlarged  and 
widened  so  in  his  mind  as  he  went  on  that  it  was 
"  easier  to  make  a  new  one  than  an  old  one."  He 
had  never  yielded  in  his  campaign  to  tricks  of  ora 
tory —  never  played  on  emotions.  He  had  been 
so  strong  in  his  convictions  of  the  right  of  his  case 
that  his  speeches  had  been  arguments  pure  and 
simple.  Their  elegance  was  that  of  a  demonstra 
tion  in  Euclid.  They  persuaded  because  they 
proved.  He  had  never  for  a  moment  counted  per 
sonal  ambition  before  the  cause.  To  insure  an  ar 
dent  opponent  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  he  had  at  one  time  given 
up  his  chance  for  the  senatorship.  To  show  the 
fallacy  of  Douglas's  argument,  he  had  asked  a 
question  which  his  party  pleaded  with  him  to  pass 


88  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

by,  assuring  him  that  it  would  lose  him  the  elec 
tion.  In  every  step  of  this  six  years  he  had  been 
disinterested,  calm,  unyielding,  and  courageous. 
He  knew  he  was  right,  and  could  afford  to  wait. 
"  The  result  is  not  doubtful,"  he  told  his  friends. 
"  We  shall  not  fail  —  if  we  stand  firm.  We  shall 
not  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate  or  mistakes 
delay  it ;  but,  sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to 
come." 

The  country,  amazed  at  the  rare  moral  and  in 
tellectual  character  of  Lincoln,  began  to  ask  ques 
tions  about  him,  and  then  his  history  came  out;  a 
pioneer  home,  little  schooling,  few  books,  hard  labor 
at  all  the  many  trades  of  the  frontiersman,  a  pro 
fession  mastered  o'  nights  by  the  light  of  a  friendly 
cooper's  fire,  an  early  entry  into  politics  and  law  — 
and  then  twenty-five  years  of  incessant  poverty  and 
struggle. 

The  homely  story  gave  a  touch  of  mystery  to  the 
figure  which  loomed  so  large.  Men  felt  a  sudden 
reverence  for  a  mind  and  heart  developed  to  these 
noble  proportions  in  so  unfriendly  a  habitat.  They 
turned  instinctively  to  one  so  familiar  with  strife 
for  help  in  solving  the  desperate  problem  with 
which  the  nation  had  grappled.  And  thus  it  was 
that,  at  fifty  years  of  age,  Lincoln  became  a  na 
tional  figure. 


LOVE  FOR  LITTLE  ONES  89 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  LITTLE  ONES 

Soon  after  his  election  as  President  and  while 
visiting  Chicago,  one  evening  at  a  social  gather 
ing  Mr.  Lincoln  saw  a  little  girl  timidly  approach 
ing  him.  He  at  once  called  her  to  him,  and  asked 
the  little  girl  what  she  wished. 

She  replied  that  she  wanted  his  name. 

Mr.  Lincoln  looked  back  into  the  room  and  said : 
"  But  here  are  other  little  girls  —  they  would  feel 
badly  if  I  should  give  my  name  only  to  you." 

The  little  girl  replied  that  there  were  eight  of 
them  in  all. 

"  Then,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  get  me  eight  sheets 
of  paper,  and  a  pen  and  ink,  and  I  will  see  what  I 
can  do  for  you." 

The  paper  was  brought,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  sat 
down  in  the  crowded  drawing-room,  and  wrote  a 
sentence  upon  each  sheet,  appending  his  name ;  and 
thus  every  little  girl  carried  off  her  souvenir. 

During  the  same  visit  and  while  giving  a  recep 
tion  at  one  of  the  hotels,  a  fond  father  took  in  a 
little  boy  by  the  hand  who  was  anxious  to  see  the 
new  President.  The  moment  the  child  entered  the 
parlor  door  he,  of  his  own  accord  and  quite  to  the 
surprise  of  his  father,  took  off  his  hat,  and,  giv 
ing  it  a  swing,  cried :  "  Hurrah  for  Lincoln ! " 
There  was  a  crowd,  but  as  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln 
could  get  hold  of  the  little  fellow,  he  lifted  him  in 


90  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

his  hands,  and,  tossing  him  towards  the   ceiling, 
laughingly  shouted :     "  Hurrah  for  you !  " 

It  was  evidently  a  refreshing  incident  to  Lincoln 
in  the  dreary  work  of  hand-shaking. 


HOW  LINCOLN  TOOK  HIS  ALTITUDE 

Soon  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  the  Executive  Chamber,  a  large  fine 
room  in  the  State  House  at  Springfield,  was  set 
apart  for  him,  where  he  met  the  public  until  after 
his  election. 

As  illustrative  of  the  nature  of  many  of  his  calls, 
the  following  brace  of  incidents  were  related  to 
Mr.  Holland  by  an  eye  witness :  "  Mr.  Lincoln, 
being  seated  in  conversation  with  a  gentleman  one 
day,  two  raw,  plainly-dressed  young  '  Suckers  '  en 
tered  the  room,  and  bashfully  lingered  near  the 
door.  As  soon  as  he  observed  them,  and  appre 
hended  their  embarrassment,  he  rose  and  walked  to 
them,  saying,  '  How  do  you  do,  my  good  fellows  ? 
What  can  I  do  for  you  ?  Will  you  sit  down  ? ' 
The  spokesman  of  the  pair,  the  shorter  of  the  two, 
declined  to  sit,  and  explained  the  object  of  the 
call  thus:  he  had  had  a  talk  about  the  relative 
height  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  companion,  and  had 
asserted  his  belief  that  they  were  of  exactly  the 
same  height.  He  had  come  in  to  verify  his  judg 
ment.  Mr.  Lincoln  smiled,  went  and  got  his  cane, 
and,  placing  the  end  of  it  upon  the  wall,  said: 


HIS  ALTITUDE  91 

" '  Here,  young  man,  come  under  here/ 
"  The  young  man  came  under  the  cane,  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  it,  and  when  it  was  perfectly  adjusted 
to  his  height,  Mr.  Lincoln  said : 

"  *  Now,  come  out,  and  hold  up  the  cane/ 
"  This  he  did  while  Mr.  Lincoln  stepped  under. 
Rubbing  his  head  back  and  forth  to  see  that  it 
worked  easily  under  the  measurement,  he  stepped 
out,  and  declared  to  the  sagacious  fellow  who  was 
curiously  looking  on,  that  he  had  guessed  with  re 
markable  accuracy  —  that  he  and  the  young  man 
were  exactly  the  same  height.  Then  he  shook 
hands  with  them  and  sent  them  on  their  way.  Mr. 
Lincoln  would  just  as  soon  have  thought  of  cutting 
off  his  right  hand  as  he  would  have  thought  of 
turning  those  boys  away  with  the  impression  that 
they  had  in  any  way  insulted  his  dignity." 


IV 
IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 


HOW  LINCOLN  WAS  ABUSED 

With  the  possible  exception  of  President  Wash 
ington,  whose  political  opponents  did  not  hesitate 
to  rob  the  vocabulary  of  vulgarity  and  wickedness 
whenever  they  desired  to  vilify  the  Chief  Magis 
trate,  Lincoln  was  the  most  and  "  best "  abused 
man  who  ever  held  office  in  the  United  States. 
During  the  first  half  of  his  initial  term  there  was 
no  epithet  which  was  not  applied  to  him. 

One  newspaper  in  New  York  habitually  character 
ized  him  as  "  that  hideous  baboon  at  the  other  end 
of  the  avenue,"  and  declared  that  "  Barnum  should 
buy  and  exhibit  him  as  a  zoological  curriosity." 

Although  the  President  did  not,  to  all  appear 
ances,  exhibit  annoyance  because  of  the  various 
diatribes  printed  and  spoken,  yet  the  fact  is  that 
his  life  was  so  cruelly  embittered  by  these  and  other 
expressions  quite  as  virulent,  that  he  often  declared 
to  those  most  intimate  with  him,  "  I  would  rather 
be  dead  than,  as  President,  be  thus  abused  in  the 
house  of  my  friends." 


95 


96  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

SONNET  IN  1862 

BY   JOHN    JAMES    PIATT 

Stern  be  the  Pilot  in  the  dreadful  hour 
When  a  great  nation,  like  a  ship  at  sea 
With  the  wroth  breakers  whitening  at  her  lee, 

Feels  her  last  shudder  if  her  Helmsman  cower; 

A  godlike  manhood  be  his  mighty  dower ! 
Such  and  so  gifted,  Lincoln,  may'st  thou  be 
With  thy  high  wisdom's  low  simplicity 

And  awful  tenderness  of  voted  power: 

From  our  hot  records  then  thy  name  shall  stand 
On    Time's    calm    ledger    out    of    passionate 
days  — 

With  the  pure  debt  of  gratitude  begun, 
And  only  paid  in  never-ending  praise  — 

One  of  the  many  of  a  mighty  Land, 

Made  by  God's  providence  the  Anointed  One. 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT 

BY  JAMES   RUSSELL  LOWELL 

From  the  Essay  in  "  My  Study  Windows" 

Never  did  a  President  enter  upon  office  with 
less  means  at  his  command,  outside  his  own  strength 
of  heart  and  steadiness  of  understanding,  for  in- 

1  By  permission  of  H  ought  on,  MiiHin  &  Company. 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT  97 

spiring  confidence  in  the  people,  and  so  winning  it 
for  himself,  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  All  that  was  known 
to  him  was  that  he  was  a  good  stump-speaker,  nomi 
nated  for  his  availability  —  that  is,  because  he  had 
no  history  —  and  chosen  by  a  party  with  whose 
more  extreme  opinions  he  was  not  in  sympathy. 
It  might  well  be  feared  that  a  man  past  fifty, 
against  whom  the  ingenuity  of  hostile  partisans 
could  rake  up  no  accusation,  must  be  lacking  in 
manliness  of  character,  in  decision  of  principle,  in 
strength  of  will ;  that  a  man  who  was  at  best  only 
the  representative  of  a  party,  and  who  yet  did  not 
fairly  represent  even  that,  would  fail  of  political, 
much  more  of  popular,  support.  And  certainly 
no  one  ever  entered  upon  office  with  so  few  re 
sources  of  power  in  the  past,  and  so  many  materials 
of  weakness  in  the  present,  as  Mr.  Lincoln.  Even 
in  that  half  of  the  Union  which  acknowledged  him 
as  President,  there  was  a  large,  and  at  that  time 
dangerous  minority,  that  hardly  admitted  his  claim 
to  the  office,  and  even  in  the  party  that  elected  him 
there  was  also  a  large  minority  that  suspected  him 
of  being  secretly  a  communicant  with  the  church  of 
Laodicea.  All  that  he  did  was  sure  to  be  viru 
lently  attacked  as  ultra  by  one  side ;  all  that  he  left 
undone,  to  be  stigmatized  as  proof  of  lukewarmness 
and  backsliding  by  the  other.  Meanwhile  he  was 
to  carry  on  a  truly  colossal  war  by  means  of  both ; 
he  was  to  disengage  the  country  from  diplomatic 
entanglements  of  unprecedented  peril  undisturbed 
by  the  help  or  the  hindrance  of  either,  and  to  win 
from  the  crowning  dangers  of  his  administration, 


98  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

in  the  confidence  of  the  people,  the  means  of  his 
safety  and  their  own.  He  has  contrived  to  do  it, 
and  perhaps  none  of  our  Presidents  since  Wash 
ington  has  stood  so  firm  in  the  confidence  of  the 
people  as  he  does  after  three  years  of  stormy  ad 
ministration. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  was  a  tentative  one,  and 
rightly  so.  He  laid  down  no  programme  which 
must  compel  him  to  be  either  inconsistent  or  un 
wise,  no  cast-iron  theorem  to  which  circumstances 
must  be  fitted  as  they  rose,  or  else  be  useless  to 
his  ends.  He  seemed  to  have  chosen  Mazarin's 
motto,  Le  temps  et  moi.  The  moi,  to  be  sure,  was 
not  very  prominent  at  first;  but  it  has  grown  more 
and  more  so,  till  the  world  is  beginning  to  be  per 
suaded  that  it  stands  for  a  character  of  marked  in 
dividuality  and  capacity  for  affairs.  Time  was  his 
prime-minister,  and,  we  began  to  think,  at  one 
period,  his  general-in-chief  also.  At  first  he  was 
so  slow  that  he  tired  out  all  those  who  see  no  evi 
dence  of  progress  but  in  blowing  up  the  engine ; 
then  he  was  so  fast,  that  he  took  the  breath  away 
from  those  who  think  there  is  no  getting  on  safely 
while  there  is  a  spark  of  fire  under  the  boilers. 
God  is  the  only  being  who  has  time  enough;  but 
a  prudent  man,  who  knows  how  to  seize  occasion, 
can  commonly  make  a  shift  to  find  as  much  as  he 
needs.  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  it  seems  to  us  in  review 
ing  his  career,  though  we  have  sometimes  in  our 
impatience  thought  otherwise,  has  always  waited, 
as  a  wise  man  should,  till  the  right  moment  brought 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT  99 

up  all  his  reserves.  Semper  nocuit  differre  paratis, 
is  a  sound  axiom,  but  the  really  efficacious  man 
will  also  be  sure  to  know  when  he  is  not  ready, 
and  be  firm  against  all  persuasion  and  reproach  till 
he  is. 

One  would  be  apt  to  think,  from  some  of  the 
criticisms  made  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  course  by  those 
who  mainly  agree  with  him  in  principle,  that  the 
chief  object  of  a  statesman  should  be  rather  to  pro 
claim  his  adhesion  to  certain  doctrines,  than  to 
achieve  their  triumph  by  quietly  accomplishing  his 
ends.  In  our  opinion,  there  is  no  more  unsafe  poli 
tician  than  a  conscientiously  rigid  doctrinaire,  noth 
ing  more  sure  to  end  in  disaster  than  a  theoretic 
scheme  of  policy  that  admits  of  no  pliability  for 
contingencies.  True,  there  is  a  popular  image  of 
an  impossible  He,  in  whose  plastic  hands  the  sub 
missive  destinies  of  mankind  become  as  wax,  and 
to  whose  commanding  necessity  the  toughest  facts 
yield  with  the  graceful  pliancy  of  fiction;  but  in 
real  life  we  commonly  find  that  the  men  who  control 
circumstances,  as  it  is  called,  are  those  who  have 
learned  to  allow  for  the  influence  of  their  eddies, 
and  have  the  nerve  to  turn  them  to  account  at  the 
happy  instant.  Mr.  Lincoln's  perilous  task  has  been 
to  carry  a  rather  shaky  raft  through  the  rapids, 
making  fast  the  unrulier  logs  as  he  could  snatch 
opportunity,  and  the  country  is  to  be  congratulated 
that  he  did  not  think  it  his  duty  to  run  straight  at 
all  hazards,  but  cautiously  to  assure  himself  with 
his  setting-pole  where  the  main  current  was,  and 


ioo  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

keep  steadily  to  that.  He  is  still  in  wild  water,  but 
we  have  faith  that  his  skill  and  sureness  of  eye  will 
bring  him  out  right  at  last. 

A  curious,  and,  as  we  think,  not  inapt  parallel, 
might  be  drawn  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  one  of 
the  most  striking  figures  in  modern  history  — 
Henry  IV.  of  France.  The  career  of  the  latter 
may  be  more  picturesque,  as  that  of  a  daring  cap 
tain  always  is;  but  in  all  its  vicissitudes  there  is 
nothing  more  romantic  than  that  sudden  change, 
as  by  a  rub  of  Aladdin's  lamp,  from  the  attorney's 
office  in  a  country  town  of  Illinois  to  the  helm  of  a 
great  nation  in  times  like  these.  The  analogy  be 
tween  the  characters  and  circumstances  of  the  two 
men  is  in  many  respects  singularly  close.  Succeed 
ing  to  a  rebellion  rather  than  a  crown,  Henry's 
chief  material  dependence  was  the  Huguenot  party, 
whose  doctrines  sat  upon  him  with  a  looseness  dis 
tasteful  certainly,  if  not  suspicious,  to  the  more 
fanatical  among  them.  King  only  in  name  over  the 
greater  part  of  France,  and  with  his  capital  barred 
against  him,  it  yet  gradually  became  clear  to  the 
more  far-seeing  even  of  the  Catholic  party  that  he 
was  the  only  center  of  order  and  legitimate  author 
ity  round  which  France  could  reorganize  itself. 
While  preachers  who  held  the  divine  right  of  kings 
made  the  churches  of  Paris  ring  with  declamations 
in  favor  of  democracy  rather  than  submit  to  the 
heretic  dog  of  a  Bearnois  —  much  as  our  soi-disant 
Democrats  have  lately  been  preaching  the  divine 
right  of  slavery,  and  denouncing  the  heresies  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  —  Henry  bore  both 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT  ^         IOT 

parties  in  hand  till  he  was  convinced  that  only  one 
course  of  action  could  possibly  combine  his  own  in 
terests  and  those  of  France.  Meanwhile  the  Prot 
estants  believed  somewhat  doubtfully  that  he  was 
theirs,  the  Catholics  hoped  somewhat  doubtfully 
that  he  would  be  theirs,  and  Henry  himself  turned 
aside  remonstrance,  advice,  and  curiosity  alike  with 
a  jest  or  a  proverb  (if  a  little  high,  he  liked  them 
none  the  worse),  joking  continually  as  his  manner 
was.  We  have  seen  Mr.  Lincoln  contemptuously 
compared  to  Sancho  Panza  by  persons  incapable  of 
appreciating  one  of  the  deepest  pieces  of  wisdom 
in  the  profoundest  romance  ever  written;  namely, 
that,  while  Don  Quixote  was  incomparable  in  theo 
retic  and  ideal  statesmanship,  Sancho,  with  his 
stock  of  proverbs,  the  ready  money  of  human  ex 
perience,  made  the  best  possible  practical  governor. 
Henry  IV.  was  as  full  of  wise  saws  and  modern  in 
stances  as  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  beneath  all  this  was  the 
thoughtful,  practical,  humane,  and  thoroughly  earn 
est  man,  around  whom  the  fragments  of  France 
were  to  gather  themselves  till  she  took  her  place 
again  as  a  planet  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the 
European  system.  In  one  respect  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
more  fortunate  than  Henry.  However  some  may 
think  him  wanting  in  zeal,  the  most  fanatical  can 
find  no  taint  of  apostasy  in  any  measure  of  his,  nor 
can  the  most  bitter  charge  him  with  being  influ 
enced  by  motives  of  personal  interest.  The  lead 
ing  distinction  between  the  policies  of  the  two  is 
one  of  circumstances.  Henry  went  over  to  the 
nation;  Mr.  Lincoln  has  steadily  drawn  the  nation 


102  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

over  to  him.  One  left  a  united  France ;  the  other, 
we  hope  and  believe,  will  leave  a  reunited  America. 
We  leave  our  readers  to  trace  the  further  points  of 
difference  and  resemblance  for  themselves,  merely 
suggesting  a  general  similarity  which  has  often  oc 
curred  to  us.  One  only  point  of  melancholy  in 
terest  we  will  allow  ourselves  to  touch  upon.  That 
Mr.  Lincoln  is  not  handsome  nor  elegant,  we  learn 
from  certain  English  tourists  who  would  consider 
similar  revelations  in  regard  to  Queen  Victoria  as 
thoroughly  American  in  their  want  of  bienseance. 
It  is  no  concern  of  ours,  nor  does  it  affect  his  fit 
ness  for  the  high  place  he  so  worthily  occupies ; 
but  he  is  certainly  as  fortunate  as  Henry  in  the 
matter  of  good  looks,  if  we  may  trust  contemporary 
evidence.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  also  been  reproached 
with  Americanism  by  some  not  unfriendly  British 
critics ;  but,  with  all  deference,  we  cannot  say  that 
we  like  him  any  the  worse  for  it,  or  see  in  it  any 
reason  why  he  should  govern  Americans  the  less 
wisely. 

People  of  more  sensitive  organizations  may  be 
shocked,  but  we  are  glad  that  in  this  our  true  war 
of  independence,  which  is  to  free  us  forever  from 
the  Old  World,  we  have  had  at  the  head  of  our 
affairs  a  man  whom  America  made  as  God  made 
Adam,  out  of  the  very  earth,  unancestried,  un 
privileged,  unknown,  to  show  us  how  much  truth, 
how  much  magnanimity,  and  how  much  statecraft 
await  the  call  of  opportunity  in  simple  manhood 
when  it  believes  in  the  justice  of  God  and  the  worth 
of  man.  Conventionalities  are  all  very  well  in  their 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT          103 

proper  place,  but  they  shrivel  at  the  touch  of  nature 
like  stubble  in  the  fire.  The  genius  that  sways  a 
nation  by  its  arbitrary  will  seems  less  august  to  us 
than  that  which  multiplies  and  reinforces  itself  in 
the  instincts  and  convictions  of  an  entire  people. 
Autocracy  may  have  something  in  it  more  melo 
dramatic  than  this,  but  falls  far  short  of  it  in  hu 
man  value  and  interest. 

Experience  would  have  bred  in  us  a  rooted  dis 
trust  of  improvised  statesmanship,  even  if  we  did 
not  believe  politics  to  be  a  science,  which,  if  it  can 
not  always  command  men  of  special  aptitude  and 
great  powers,  at  least  demands  the  long  and  steady 
application  of  the  best  powers  of  such  men  as  it 
can  command  to  master  even  its  first  principles. 
It  is  curious,  that,  in  a  country  which  boasts  of  its 
intelligence,  the  theory  should  be  so  generally  held 
that  the  most  complicated  of  human  contrivances, 
and  one  which  every  day  becomes  more  compli 
cated,  can  be  worked  at  sight  by  any  man  able  to 
talk  for  an  hour  or  two  without  stopping  to  think. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  sometimes  claimed  as  an  example 
of  a  ready-made  rmer.  But  no  case  could  well  be 
less  in  point;  for,  besides  that  he  was  a  man  of 
such  fair-mindedness  as  is  always  the  raw  material 
of  wisdom,  he  had  in  his  profession  a  training  pre 
cisely  the  opposite  of  that  to  which  a  partisan  is 
subjected.  His  experience  as  a  lawyer  compelled 
him  not  only  to  see  that  there  is  a  principle  un 
derlying  every  phenomenon  in  human  affairs,  but 
that  there  are  always  two  sides  to  every  question, 
both  of  which  must  be  fully  understood  in  order 


104  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

to  understand  either,  and  that  it  is  of  greater  ad 
vantage  to  an  advocate  to  appreciate  the  strength 
than  the  weakness  of  his  antagonist's  position. 
Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  unerring  tact 
with  which,  in  his  debate  with  Mr.  Douglas,  he 
went  straight  to  the  reason  of  the  question;  nor 
have  we  ever  had  a  more  striking  lesson  in  political 
tactics  than  the  fact,  that,  opposed  to  a  man  ex 
ceptionally  adroit  in  using  popular  prejudice  and 
bigotry  to  his  purpose,  exceptionally  unscrupu 
lous  in  appealing  to  those  baser  motives  that  turn 
a  meeting  of  citizens  into  a  mob  of  barbarians,  he 
should  yet  have  won  his  case  before  a  jury  of  the 
people.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  as  far  as  possible  from 
an  impromptu  politician.  His  wisdom  was  made 
up  of  a  knowledge  of  things  as  well  as  of  men; 
his  sagacity  resulted  from  a  clear  perception  and 
honest  acknowledgment  of  difficulties,  which 
enabled  him  to  see  that  the  only  durable  triumph 
of  political  opinion  is  based,  not  on  any  abstract 
right,  but  upon  so  much  of  justice,  the  highest  at^ 
tainable  at  any  given  moment  in  human  affairs, 
as  may  be  had  in  the  balance  of  mutual  concession. 
Doubtless  he  had  an  ideal,  but  it  was  the  ideal  of 
a  practical  statesman  —  to  aim  at  the  best,  and  to 
take  the  next  best,  if  he  is  lucky  enough  to  get 
even  that.  His  slow,  but  singularly  masculine  intel 
ligence  taught  him  that  precedent  is  only  another 
name  for  embodied  experience,  and  that  it  counts 
for  even  more  in  the  guidance  of  communities  of 
men  than  in  that  of  the  individual  life.  He  was  not 
a  man  who  held  it  good  public  economy  to  pull 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT          105 

down  on  the  mere  chance  of  rebuilding  better.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  faith  in  God  was  qualified  by  a  very  well- 
founded  distrust  of  the  wisdom  of  man.  Perhaps 
it  was  his  want  of  self-confidence  that  more  than 
anything  else  won  him  the  unlimited  confidence  of 
the  people,  for  they  felt  that  there  would  be  no 
need  of  retreat  from  any  position  he  had  deliber 
ately  taken.  The  cautious,  but  steady,  advance  of 
his  policy  during  the  war  was  like  that  of  a  Roman 
army.  He  left  behind  him  a  firm  road  on  which 
public  confidence  could  follow ;  he  took  America 
with  him  where  he  went ;  what  he  gained  he  oc 
cupied,  and  his  advanced  posts  became  colonies. 
The  very  homeliness  of  his  genius  was  its  distinc 
tion.  His  kingship  was  conspicuous  by  its  work 
day  homespun.  Never  was  ruler  so  absolute  as  he, 
nor  so  little  conscious  of  it;  for  he  was  the  incar 
nate  common-sense  of  the  people.  With  all  that 
tenderness  of  nature  whose  sweet  sadness  touched 
whoever  saw  him  with  something  of  its  own  pathos, 
there  was  no  trace  of  sentimentalism  in  his  speech  or 
action.  He  seems  to  have  had  but  one  rule  of  con 
duct,  always  that  of  practical  and  successful  poli 
tics,  to  let  himself  be  guided  by  events,  when  they 
were  sure  to  bring  him  out  where  he  wished  to  go, 
though  by  what  seemed  to  unpractical  minds,  which 
let  go  the  possible  to  grasp  at  the  desirable,  a  longer 
road. 

No  higher  compliment  was  ever  paid  to  a  na 
tion  than  the  simple  confidence,  the  fireside  plain 
ness,  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  always  addresses  him- 


106  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

self  to  the  reason  of  the  American  people.  This 
was,  indeed,  a  true  democrat,  who  grounded  him 
self  on  the  assumption  that  a  democracy  can  think. 
"  Come,  let  us  reason  together  about  this  matter," 
has  been  the  tone  of  all  his  addresses  to  the  people ; 
and  accordingly  we  have  never  had  a  chief  magis 
trate  who  so  won  to  himself  the  love  and  at  the 
same  time  the  judgment  of  his  countrymen.  To 
us,  that  simple  confidence  of  his  in  the  right-mind 
edness  of  his  fellow-men  is  very  touching,  and  its 
success  is  as  strong  an  argument  as  we  have  ever 
seen  in  favor  of  the  theory  that  men  can  govern 
themselves.  He  never  appeals  to  any  vulgar  senti 
ment,  he  never  alludes  to  the  humbleness  of  his 
origin;  it  probably  never  occurred  to  him,  indeed 
that  there  was  anything  higher  to  start  from  than 
manhood ;  and  he  put  himself  on  a  level  with  those 
he  addressed,  not  by  going  down  to  them,  but  only 
by  taking  it  for  granted  that  they  had  brains  and 
would  come  up  to  a  common  ground  of  reason.  In 
an  article  lately  printed  in  "  The  Nation,"  Mr. 
Bayard  Taylor  mentions  the  striking  fact,  that  in 
the  foulest  dens  of  the  Five  Points  he  found  the 
portrait  of  Lincoln.  The  wretched  population  that 
makes  its  hive  there  threw  all  its  votes  and  more 
against  him,  and  yet  paid  this  instinctive  tribute  to 
the  sweet  humanity  of  his  nature.  Their  ignorance 
sold  its  vote  and  took  its  money,  but  all  that  was 
left  of  manhood  in  them  recognized  its  saint  and 
martyr. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  not  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "  This 
is  my  opinion,  or  my  theory,"  but,  "  This  is  the 


LINCOLN  THE  PRESIDENT  107 

conclusion  to  which,  in  my  judgment,  the  time  has 
come,  and  to  which,  accordingly  the  sooner  we 
come  the  better  for  us."  His  policy  has  been  the 
policy  of  public  opinion  based  on  adequate  discus 
sion  and  on  a  timely  recognition  of  the  influence  of 
passing  events  in  shaping  the  features  of  events 
to  come. 

One  secret  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  remarkable  suc 
cess  in  captivating  the  popular  mind  is  undoubtedly 
an  unconsciousness  of  self  which  enables  him, 
though  under  the  necessity  of  constantly  using  the 
capital  I,  to  do  it  without  any  suggestion  of  ego 
tism.  There  is  no  single  vowel  which  men's  mouths 
can  pronounce  with  such  difference  of  effect.  That 
which  one  shall  hide  away,  as  it  were,  behind  the 
substance  of  his  discourse,  or,  if  he  bring  it  to  the 
front,  shall  use  merely  to  give  an  agreeable  ac 
cent  of  individuality  to  what  he  says,  another  shall 
make  an  offensive  challenge  to  the  self-satisfaction 
of  all  his  hearers,  and  an  unwarranted  intrusion 
upon  each  man's  sense  of  personal  importance,  ir 
ritating  every  pore  of  his  vanity,  like  a  dry  north 
east  wind,  to  a  goose-flesh  of  opposition  and  hos 
tility.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  never  studied  Quintilian ; 
but  he  has,  in  the  earnest  simplicity  and  unaffected 
Americanism  of  his  own  character,  one  art  of  or 
atory  worth  all  the  rest.  He  forgets  himself  so 
entirely  in  his  object  as  to  give  his  I  the  sympa 
thetic  and  persuasive  effect  of  We  with  the  great 
body  of  his  countrymen.  Homely,  dispassionate, 
showing  all  the  rough-edged  process  of  his  thought 
as  it  goes  along,  yet  arriving  at  his  conclusions  with 


io8  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

an  honest  kind  of  every-day  logic,  he  is  so 
eminently  our  representative  man,  that,  when  he 
speaks,  it  seems  as  if  the  people  were  listening  to 
their  own  thinking  aloud.  The  dignity  of  his 
thought  owes  nothing  to  any  ceremonial  garb  of 
words,  but  to  the  manly  movement  that  comes  of 
settled  purpose  and  an  energy  of  reason  that  knows 
not  what  rhetoric  means.  There  has  been  nothing 
of  Cleon,  still  less  of  Strepsiades  striving  to  under 
bid  him  in  demagogism,  to  be  found  in  the  public 
utterances  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  has  always  ad 
dressed  the  intelligence  of  men,  never  their  preju 
dice,  their  passion,  or  their  ignorance. 


On  the  day  of  his  death,  this  simple  Western 
attorney,  who  according  to  one  party  was  a  vulgar 
joker,  and  whom  the  doctrinaires  among  his  own 
supporters  accused  of  wanting  every  element  of 
statesmanship,  was  the  most  absolute  ruler  in 
Christendom,  and  this  solely  by  the  hold  his  good- 
humored  sagacity  had  laid  on  the  hearts  and  un 
derstandings  of  his  countrymen.  Nor  was  this  all, 
for  it  appeared  that  he  had  drawn  the  great  ma 
jority,  not  only  of  his  fellow-citizens,  but  of  man 
kind,  also,  to  his  side.  So  strong  and  so  persuasive 
is  honest  manliness  without  a  single  quality  of 
romance  or  unreal  sentiment  to  help  it !  A  civilian 
during  times  of  the  most  captivating  military 
achievement,  awkward,  with  no  skill  in  the  lower 
technicalities  of  manners,  he  left  behind  him  a  fame 
beyond  that  of  any  conqueror,  the  memory  of  a 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  109 

grace  higher  than  that  of  outward  person,  and  of 
gentlemanliness  deeper  than  mere  breeding.  Never 
before  that  startled  April  morning  did  such  mul 
titudes  of  men  shed  tears  for  the  death  of  one 
they  had  never  seen,  as  if  with  him  a  friendly 
presence  had  been  taken  away  from  their  lives, 
leaving  them  colder  and  darker.  Never  was 
funeral  panegyric  so  eloquent  as  the  silent  look  of 
sympathy  which  strangers  exchanged  when  they 
met  on  that  day.  Their  common  manhood  had  lost 
a  kinsman. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
January  First,  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Sixty-Three 

BY   FRANK    MOORE 

Stand  like  an  anvil,  when  'tis  beaten 

With  the  full  vigor  of  the  smith's  right  arm ! 
Stand  like  the  noble  oak-tree,  when  'tis  eaten 

By  the  Saperda  and  his  ravenous  swarm ! 
For  many  smiths  will  strike  the  ringing  blows 
Ere  the  red  drama  now  enacting  close; 
And  human  insects,  gnawing  at  thy  fame, 
Conspire  to  bring  thy  honored  head  to  shame. 

Stand  like  the  firmament,  upholden 
By  an  invisible  but  Almighty  hand! 

He  whomsoever  JUSTICE  doth  embolden, 
Unshaken,  unseduced,  unawed  shall  stand. 


i io  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Invisible  support  is  mightier  far, 
With  noble  aims,  than  walls  of  granite  are ; 
And  simple  consciousness  of  justice  gives 
Strength  to  a  purpose  while  that  purpose  lives. 

Stand  like  the  rock  that  looks  defiant 

Far  o'er  the  surging  seas  that  lash  its  form ! 
Composed,   determined,   watchful,   self-reliant, 

Be  master  of  thyself,  and  rule  the  storm ! 
And  thou  shalt  soon  behold  the  bow  of  peace 
Span  the  broad  heavens,  and  the  wild  tumult 

cease ; 

And  see  the  billows,  with  the  clouds  that  meet, 
Subdued  and  calm,  come  crouching  to  thy  feet. 


THE  PROCLAMATION1 

BY   JOHN    GREENLEAF   WHITTIER 

Saint  Patrick,  slave  to  Milcho  of  the  herds 
Of  Ballymena,  sleeping,  heard  these  words: 

"  Arise,  and  flee 
Out    from   the   land   of   bondage,   and   be    free ! " 

Glad  as  a  soul  in  pain,  who  hears  from  heaven 
The  angels  singing  of  his  sins  forgiven, 

And,  wondering,  sees 
His  prison  opening  to  their  golden  keys, 
He  rose  a  Man  who  laid  him  down  a  Slave, 
Shook  from  his  locks  the  ashes  of  the  grave, 

1  By  special  permission   of  Messrs,    Houghton,   MiMin 
&  Company, 


THE  PROCLAMATION  ill 

And  onward  trod 
Into  the  glorious  liberty  of  God. 

He  cast  the  symbols  of  his  shame  away; 
And  passing  where  the  sleeping  Milcho  lay, 

Though  back  and  limb 
Smarted    with   wrong,    he    prayed,    "  God   pardon 

him !  " 

So  went  he  forth:  but  in  God's  time  he  came 
To  light  on  Uilline's  hills  a  holy  flame; 

And,  dying,  gave 
The  land  a  Saint  that  lost  him  as  a  Slave. 

O,  dark,  sad  millions,  patiently  and  dumb 
Waiting  for  God,  your  hour,  at  last,  has  come, 

And  Freedom's  song 
Breaks  the  long  silence  of  your  night  of  wrong! 

Arise,  and  flee !  shake  off  the  vile  restraint 
Of  ages !  but,  like  Ballymena's  saint, 

The  oppressor  spare, 
Heap  only  on  his  head  the  coals  of  prayer. 

Go  forth,  like  him!  like  him  return  again, 
To  bless  the  land  whereon,  in  bitter  pain, 

Ye  toiled  at  first, 
And  heal  with  Freedom  what  your  Slavery  cursed. 


112  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


THE     EMANCIPATION     PROCLAMATION 

From  the  address  delivered  before  Congress  on  Febru 
ary  12,  1878,  presenting  to  the  re-United  States,  on  behalf 
of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  Carpenter's  painting  —  The 
First  Reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  before 
the  Cabinet. 

BY    JAMES    ABRAM    GARFIELD 

Let  us  pause  to  consider  the  actors  in  that  scene. 
In  force  of  character,  in  thoroughness  and  breadth 
of  culture,  in  experience  of  public  affairs,  and  in 
national  reputation,  the  Cabinet  that  sat  around  that 
council-board  has  had  no  superior,  perhaps  no 
equal  in  our  history.  Seward,  the  finished  scholar, 
the  consummate  orator,  the  great  leader  of  the 
Senate,  had  come  to  crown  his  career  with  those 
achievements  which  placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of 
modern  diplomatists.  Chase,  with  a  culture  and  a 
fame  of  massive  grandeur,  stood  as  the  rock  and 
pillar  of  the  public  credit,  the  noble  embodiment  of 
the  public  faith.  Stanton  was  there,  a  very  Titan 
of  strength,  the  great  organizer  of  victory.  Em 
inent  lawyers,  men  of  business,  leaders  of  states 
and  leaders  of  men,  completed  the  group. 

But  the  man  who  presided  over  that  council, 
who  inspired  and  guided  its  deliberations,  was  a 
character  so  unique  that  he  stood  alone,  without 
a  model  in  history  or  a  parallel  among  men.  Born 


THE  EMANCIPATION  113 

on  this  day,  sixty-nine  years  ago,  to  an  inheritance 
of  extremest  poverty;  surrounded  by  the  rude 
forces  of  the  wilderness;  wholly  unaided  by  par 
ents  ;  only  one  year  in  any  school ;  never,  for  a  day, 
master  of  his  own  time  until  he  reached  his  ma 
jority;  making  his  way  to  the  profession  of  the 
law  by  the  hardest  and  roughest  road; — yet  by 
force  of  unconquerable  will  and  persistent,  patient 
work  he  attained  a  foremost  place  in  his  profession, 

"  And,  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 
Became  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

At  first,  it  was  the  prevailing,  belief  that  he 
would  be  only  the  nominal  head  of  his  administra 
tion, —  that  its  policy  would  be  directed  by  the  em 
inent  statesmen  he  had  called  to  his  council.  How 
erroneous  this  opinion  was  may  be  seen  from  a 
single  incident. 

Among  the  earliest,  most  difficult,  and  most 
delicate  duties  of  his  administration  was  the  ad 
justment  of  our  relations  with  Great  Britain. 
Serious  complications,  even  hostilities,  were  ap 
prehended.  On  the  2  ist  of  May,  1861,  the  Sec 
retary  of  State  presented  to  the  President  his 
draught  of  a  letter  of  instructions  to  Minister 
Adams,  in  which  the  position  of  the  United  States 
and  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  were  set  forth 
with  the  clearness  and  force  which  long  experience 
and  great  ability  had  placed  at  the  command  of  the 
Secretary.  Upon  almost  every  page  of  tharf: 


H4  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

original  draught  are  erasures,  additions,  and  mar 
ginal  notes  in  the  handwriting  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
which  exhibit  a  sagacity,  a  breadth  of  wisdom,  and 
a  comprehension  of  the  whole  subject,  impossible  to 
be  found  except  in  a  man  of  the  very  first  order. 
And  these  modifications  of  a  great  state  paper  were 
made  by  a  man  who  but  three  months  before  had 
entered  for  the  first  time  the  wide  theatre  of 
Executive  action. 

Gifted  with  an  insight  and  a  foresight  which 
the  ancients  would  have  called  divination,  he  saw, 
in  the  midst  of  darkness  and  obscurity,  the  logic  of 
events,  and  forecast  the  result.  From  the  first,  in 
his  own  quaint,  original  way,  without  ostentation 
or  offense  to  his  associates,  he  was  pilot  and  com 
mander  of  his  administration.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  great  rulers  whose  wisdom  increased  with  his 
power,  and  whose  spirit  grew  gentler  and  tenderer 
as  his  triumphs  were  multiplied. 

This  was  the  man,  and  these  his  associates,  who 
look  down  upon  us  from  the  canvas. 

The  present  is  not  a  fitting  occasion  to  examine, 
with  any  completeness,  the  causes  that  led  to  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation ;  but  the  peculiar  re 
lation  of  that  act  to  the  character  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  cannot  be  understood,  without  considering  one 
remarkable  fact  in  his  history.  His  earlier  years 
were  passed  in  a  region  remote  from  the  centers 
of  political  thought,  and  without  access  to  the  great 
world  of  books.  But  the  few  books  that  came 
within  his  reach  he  devoured  with  the  divine  hunger 
of  genius.  One  paper,  above  all  others,  led  him 


THE  EMANCIPATION  115 

captive,  and  filled  his  spirit  with  the  majesty  of  its 
truth  and  the  sublimity  of  its  eloquence.  It  was 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence.  The 
author  and  the  signers  of  that  instrument  became, 
in  his  early  youth,  the  heroes  of  his  political  wor 
ship.  I  doubt  if  history  affords  any  example  of  a 
life  so  early,  so  deeply,  and  so  permanently  influ 
enced  by  a  single  political  truth,  as  was  Abraham 
Lincoln's  by  the  central  doctrine  of  the  Declaration, 
—  the  liberty  and  equality  of  all  men.  Long  before 
his  fame  had  become  national  he  said,  "  That  is 
the  electric  cord  in  the  Declaration,  that  links  the 
hearts  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  together, 
and  that  will  link  such  hearts  as  long  as  the  love 
of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds  of  men  throughout 
the  world." 

That  truth  runs,  like  a  thread  of  gold,  through 
the  whole  web  of  his  political  life.  It  was  the 
spear-point  of  his  logic  in  his  debates  with  Douglas. 
It  was  the  inspiring  theme  of  his  remarkable  speech 
at  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  in  1860,  which 
gave  him  the  nomination  to  the  Presidency.  It 
filled  him  with  reverent  awe  when  on  his  way  to  the 
capital  to  enter  the  shadows  of  the  terrible  conflict 
then  impending,  he  uttered,  in  Independence  Hall, 
at  Philadelphia,  these  remarkable  words,  which 
were  prophecy  then  but  are  history  now : — 

"  I  have  never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did 
not  spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often  pon 
dered  over  the  dangers  which  were  incurred  by  the 
men  who  assembled  here,  and  framed  and  adopted 


ii6  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

that  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  pondered 
over  the  toils  that  were  endured  by  the  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  army  who  achieved  that  independence 
I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what  great  prin 
ciple  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  confederacy  so 
long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the 
separation  of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother  land, 
but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for 
all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise 
that,  in  due  time,  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from 
the  shoulders  of  all  men.  This  is  the  sentiment 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  upon 
that  basis?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one 
of  the  happiest  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to 
save  it.  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle, 
it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot 
be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was 
about  to  say,  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this 
spot  than  surrender  it." 

Deep  and  strong  was  his  devotion  to  liberty;  yet 
deeper  and  stronger  still  was  his  devotion  to  the 
Union ;  for  he  believed  that  without  the  Union 
permanent  liberty  for  either  race  on  this  continent 
would  be  impossible.  And  because  of  this  belief, 
he  was  reluctant,  perhaps  more  reluctant  than  most 
of  his  associates,  to  strike  slavery  with  the  sword. 
For  many  months,  the  passionate  appeals  of  mil 
lions  of  his  associates  semed  not  to  move  him.  He 
listened  to  all  the  phases  of  the  discussion,  and 


THE  EMANCIPATION  117 

stated,  in  language  clearer  and  stronger  than  any 
opponent  had  used,  the  dangers,  the  difficulties, 
and  the  possible  futility  of  the  act.  In  reference  to 
its  practical  wisdom,  Congress,  the  Cabinet  and 
the  country  were  divided.  Several  of  his  generals 
had  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  slaves  within  the 
limits  of  their  commands.  The  President  revoked 
their  proclamations.  His  first  Secretary  of  War 
had  inserted  a  paragraph  in  his  annual  report  ad 
vocating  a  similar  policy.  The  President  sup 
pressed  it. 

On  the  i  Qth  of  August,  1862,  Horace  Greeley 
published  a  letter,  addressed  to  the  President,  en 
titled  "  The  Prayer  of  Twenty  Millions,"  in  which 
he  said,  "  On  the  face  of  this  wide  earth,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  there  is  not  one  disinterested,  determined,  in 
telligent  champion  of  the  Union  cause  who  does 
not  feel  that  all  attempts  to  put  down  the  rebellion 
and  at  the  same  time  uphold  its  inciting  cause  are 
preposterous  and  futile." 

To  this  the  President  responded  in  that  ever- 
memorable  reply  of  August  22,  in  which  he  said : — 

"  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I 
do  not  agree  with  them. 

"  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery, 
I  do  not  agree  with  them. 

"  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and 
not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy  slavery. 

"  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any 
slave,  I  would  do  it.  If  I  could  save  it  by  freeing 


ii8  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it, —  and  if  I  could  do 
it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would 
also  do  that. 

"  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race, 
I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union; 
and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not 
believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall 
do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  that  what  I  am 
doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  when 
ever  I  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause." 

Thus,  against  all  importunities  on  the  one  hand 
and  remonstrances  on  the  other,  he  took  the  mighty 
question  to  his  own  heart,  and,  during  the  long 
months  of  that  terrible  battle-summer,  wrestled 
with  it  alone.  But  at  length  he  realized  the  saving 
truth,  that  great,  unsettled  questions  have  no  pity 
for  the  repose  of  nations.  On  the  22nd  of  Sep 
tember,  he  summoned  his  Cabinet  to  announce  his 
conclusion.  It  was  my  good  fortune,  on  that  same 
day,  and  a  few  hours  after  the  meeting,  to  hear, 
from  the  lips  of  one  who  participated,  the  story  of 
the  scene.  As  the  chiefs  of  the  Executive  Depart 
ments  came  in,  one  by  one,  they  found  the  Presi 
dent  reading  a  favorite  chapter  from  a  popular 
humorist.  He  was  lightening  the  weight  of  the 
great  burden  which  rested  upon  his  spirit.  He 
finished  the  chapter,  reading  it  aloud.  And  here 
I  quote,  from  the  published  Journal  of  the  late  Chief 
Justice,  an  entry,  written  immediately  after  the 
meeting,  and  bearing  unmistakable  evidence  that 
it  is  almost  a  literal  transcript  of  Lincoln's  words. 

"  The  President  then  took  a  graver  tone,   and 


THE  EMANCIPATION  119 

said :  '  Gentlemen,  I  have,  as  you  are  aware, 
thought  a  great  deal  about  the  relation  of  this  war 
to  slavery;  and  you  all  remember  that,  several 
weeks  ago,  I  read  to  you  an  order  I  had  prepared 
upon  the  subject,  which,  on  account  of  objections 
made  by  some  of  you,  was  not  issued.  Ever  since 
then  my  mind  has  been  much  occupied  with  this 
subject,  and  I  have  thought  all  along  that  the  time 
for  acting  on  it  might  probably  come.  I  think  the 
time  has  come  now.  I  wish  it  was  a  better  time. 
I  wish  that  we  were  in  a  better  condition.  The 
action  of  the  army  against  the  rebels  has  not  been 
quite  what  I  should  have  best  liked.  But  they 
have  been  driven  out  of  Maryland,  and  Pennsyl 
vania  is  no  longer  in  danger  of  invasion.  When 
the  rebel  army  was  at  Frederick,  I  determined  as 
soon  as  it  should  be  driven  out  of  Maryland  to 
issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  such  as  I 
thought  most  likely  to  be  useful.  I  said  nothing 
to  any  one,  but  I  made  a  promise  to  myself  and 
(hesitating  a  little)  to  my  Maker.  The  rebel  army 
is  now  driven  out,  and  I  am  going  to  fulfil  that 
promise.  I  have  got  you  together  to  hear  what 
I  have  written  down.  I  do  not  wish  your  advice 
about  the  main  matter,  for  that  I  have  determined 
for  myself.  This  I  say  without  intending  anything 
but  respect  for  any  one  of  you.  But  I  already 
know  the  views  of  each  on  this  question.  They 
have  been  heretofore  expressed,  and  I  have  con 
sidered  them  as  thoroughly  and  carefully  as  I 
can.  What  I  have  written  is  that  which  my  re 
flections  have  determined  me  to  say.  If  there  is 


120  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

anything  in  the  expressions  I  use,  or  in  any  minor 
matter  which  any  one  of  you  thinks  had  best  be 
changed,  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  your  sugges 
tions.  One  other  observation  I  will  make.  I 
know  very  well  that  many  others  might,  in  this 
matter  as  in  others,  do  better  than  I  can;  and  if 
I  was  satisfied  that  the  public  confidence  was  more 
fully  possessed  by  any  one  of  them  than  by  me,  and 
knew  of  any  constitutional  way  in  which  he  could 
be  put  in  my  place,  he  should  have  it.  I  would 
gladly  yield  it  to  him.  But  though  I  believe  I 
have  not  so  much  of  the  confidence  of  the  people 
as  I  had  some  time  since,  I  do  not  know  that,  all 
things  considered,  any  other  person  has  more ;  and, 
however  this  may  be,  there  is  no  way  in  which  I 
can  have  any  other  man  put  where  I  am.  I  must 
do  the  best  I  can  and  bear  the  responsibility  of 
taking  the  course  which  I  feel  I  ought  to  take/ 

"  The  President  then  proceeded  to  read  his 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  making  remarks  on 
the  several  parts  as  he  went  on,  and  showing  that 
he  had  fully  considered  the  subject  in  all  the  lights 
under  which  it  had  been  presented  to  him." 

The  Proclamation  was  amended  in  a  few  mat 
ters  of  detail.  It  was  signed  and  published  that 
day.  The  world  knows  the  rest,  and  will  not  for 
get  it  till  "the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time." 


THE  EMANCIPATION  GROUP        121 
THE  EMANCIPATION  GROUP1 

BY    JOHN    GREENLEAF    WHITTIER 

Moses  Kimball,  a  citizen  of  Boston,  presented  to  the 
city  a  duplicate  of  the  Freedman's  Memorial  Statue 
erected  in  Lincoln  Square,  Washington,  after  a  design 
by  Thomas  Ball.  The  group,  which  stands  in  Park 
Square,  represents  the  figure  of  a  slave,  from  whose 
limbs  the  broken  fetters  have  fallen,  kneeling  in  grati 
tude  at  the  feet  of  Lincoln.  The  verses  which  follow 
were  written  for  the  unveiling  of  the  statue,  Decem 
ber  9,  1879. 

Amidst  thy  sacred  effigies 

If  old  renown  give  place, 
O  city,   Freedom-loved!  to  his 

Whose  hand  unchained  a  race 

Take  the  worn  frame,  that  rested  not 

Save  in  a  martyr's  grave; 
The  care-lined  face,  that  none  forgot, 

Bent  to  the  kneeling  slave. 

Let  man  be  free !  The  mighty  word 
He  spake  was  not  his  own ; 

An  impulse  from  the  Highest  stirred 
These  chiselled  lips  alone. 

The  cloudy  sign,  the  fiery  guide, 
Along  his  pathway  ran, 

iBy  special  permission  of  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifilin 
&  Company. 


122  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  Nature,  through  his  voice,  denied 
The  ownership  of  man. 

We  rest  in  peace  where  these  sad  eyes 
Saw  peril,  strife,  and  pain ; 

His  was  the  nation's  sacrifice, 
And  ours  the  priceless  gain. 

O  symbol  of  God's  will  on  earth 

As  it  is  done  above! 
Bear  witness  to  the  cost  and  worth 
Of  justice  and  of  love. 

Stand  in  thy  place  and  testify 

To  coming  ages  long, 
That  truth  is  stronger  than  a  lie, 

And  righteousness  than  wrong. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  CHRISTMAS  GIFT* 

BY   NORA   PERRY 

'Twas  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-four, 
That  terrible  year  when  the  shock  and  roar 
Of  the  nation's  battles  shook  the  land, 
And  the  fire  leapt  up  into  fury  fanned, 

The  passionate,  patriotic  fire, 
With  its  throbbing  pulse  and  its  wild  desire 
To  conquer  and  win,  or  conquer  and  die, 
In  the  thick  of  the  fight  when  hearts  beat  high 

1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  Miifiin  &  Company. 


LINCOLN'S  CHRISTMAS  GIFT        123 

With  the  hero's  thrill  to  do  and  to  dare, 
'Twixt  the  bullet's  rush  and  the  muttered  prayer. 
In  the  North,  and  the  East  and  the  great  North 
west, 
Men  waited  and  watched  with  eager  zest 

For  news  of  the  desperate,  terrible  strife, — 
For  a  nation's  death  or  a  nation's  life; 
While  over  the  wires  there  flying  sped 
News  of  the  wounded,  the  dying  and  dead. 

"  Defeat  and  defeat !     Ah !  what  was  the  fault 
Of  the  grand  old  army's  sturdy  assault 
At  Richmond's  gates  ?  "  in  a  querulous  key 
Men  questioned  at  last  impatiently, 

As  the  hours  crept  by,  and  day  by  day 
They  watched  the  Potomac  Army  at  bay. 
Defeat  and  defeat !     It  was  here,  just  here, 
In  the  very  height  of  the  fret  and  fear, 

Click,  click !  across  the  electric  wire 

Came  suddenly  flashing  words  of  fire, 

And  a  great  shout  broke  from  city  and  town 

At  the  news   of   Sherman's  marching   down, — 

Marching  down  on  his  way  to  the  sea 
Through  the  Georgia  swamps  to  victory. 
Faster  and  faster  the  great  news  came, 
Flashing  along  like  tongues  of  flame, — 

McAllister  ours  !     And  then,  ah !  then, 
To  that  patientest,  tenderest,  noblest  of  men, 
This  message  from  Sherman  came  flying  swift, — 
"  I  send  you  Savannah  for  a  Christmas  gift ! "• 


V 
DEATH  OF  LINCOLN 


O  CAPTAIN !    MY  CAPTAIN ! 1 

BY    WALT    WHITMAN 

jQ^  Captain !  my  Captain !  our  fearful  trip  is  done, 
The  ship  has  weather'd  every  rack,  the  prize  we 

sought  is  won, 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all 

exulting, 

While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim 
and  daring; 

But  O  heart!  heart!  heart! 
O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 

Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

O  Captain !  my  Captain !  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells ; 
Rise  up  —  for  you  the  flag  is  flung  —  for  you  the 

bugle  trills, 
For  you  bouquets  and  ribbon'd  wreaths  —  for  you 

the  shores  a-crowding, 

For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager 
faces  turning; 

Here  Captain!  dear  father! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head! 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck, 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and 

still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse 

nor  will, 

1  By  permission  of  David  McKay. 
127 


128  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

The  ship   is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage 

closed  and  done, 

From   fearful  trip   the  victor   ship  conies   in  with 
object  won; 

Exult,  O  shores,  and  ring,  O  bells ! 
But  I  with  mournful  'tread, 
Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 


ABRAHAM     LINCOLN'S     DEATH  — A    DE 
SCRIPTION    OF    THE    SCENE    AT 
FORD'S  THEATRE * 

WALT    WHITMAN 

The  day  (April  14,  1865)  seems  to  have  been 
a  pleasant  one  throughout  the  whole  land  —  the 
moral  atmosphere  pleasant,  too  —  the  long  storm, 
so  dark,  so  fratricidal,  full  of  blood  and  doubt  and 
gloom,  over  and  ended  at  last  by  the  sunrise  of 
such  an  absolute  National  victory,  and  utter  break 
ing  down  of  secessionism  —  we  almost  doubted 
our  senses !  Lee  had  capitulated  beneath  the  apple 
tree  at  Appomattox.  The  other  armies,  the  flanges 
of  the  revolt,  swiftly  followed. 

And  could  it  really  be,  then  ?  Out  of  all  the  af 
fairs  of  this  world  of  woe  and  passion,  of  failure 
and  disorder  and  dismay,  was  there  really  come 

1  By  permission  of  David  McKay. 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  129 

the  confirmed,  unerring  sign  of  peace,  like  a  shaft 
of  pure  light  —  of  rightful  rule — of  God? 

But  I  must  not  dwell  on  accessories.  The  deed 
hastens.  The  popular  afternoon  paper,  the  little 
Evening  Star,  had  scattered  all  over  its  third  page, 
divided  among  the  advertisements  in  a  sensational 
manner  in  a  hundred  different  places :  "  The 
President  and  his  lady  will  be  at  the  theatre  this 
evening."  Lincoln  was  fond  of  the  theatre.  I 
have  myself  seen  him  there  several  times.  I  re 
member  thinking  how  funny  it  was  that  he,  in  some 
respects  the  leading  actor  in  the  greatest  and  storm 
iest  drama  known  to  real  history's  stage  through 
centuries,  should  sit  there  and  be  so  completely  in 
terested  in  those  human  jack-straws,  moving  about 
with  their  silly  little  gestures,  foreign  spirit,  and 
flatulent  text. 

So  the  day,  as  I  say,  was  propitious.  Early  herb 
age,  early  flowers,  were  out.  I  remembered  where 
I  was  stopping  at  the  time,  the  season  being  ad 
vanced,  there  were  many  lilacs  in  full  bloom.  By 
one  of  those  caprices  that  enter  and  give  tinge  to 
events  without  being  at  all  a  part  of  them,  I  find 
myself  always  reminded  of  the  great  tragedy  of 
that  day  by  the  sight  and  odor  of  these  blossoms. 
It  never  fails. 

On  this  occasion  the  theatre  was  crowded,  many 
ladies  in  rich  and  gay  costumes,  officers  in  their 
uniforms,  many  well-known  citizens,  young  folks, 
the  usual  clusters  of  gas-lights,  the  usual  mag 
netism  of  so  many  people,  cheerful,  with  perfumes, 
music  of  violins  and  flutes  —  and  over  all,  and 


130  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

saturating,  that  vast,  vague  wonder,  Victory,  the 
Nation's  victory,  the  triumph  of  the  Union,  filling 
the  air,  the  thought,  the  sense,  with  exhilaration 
more  than  all  perfumes. 

The  President  came  betimes  and,  with  his  wife, 
witnessed  the  play,  from  the  large  stage  boxes  of 
the  second  tier,  two  thrown  into  one,  and  pro 
fusely  draped  with  the  National  flag.  The  acts 
and  scenes  of  the  piece  —  one  of  those  singularly 
witless  compositions  which  have  at  least  the  merit 
of  giving  entire  relief  to  an  audience  engaged  in 
mental  action  or  business  excitements  and  cares 
during  the  day,  as  it  makes  not  the  slightest  call 
on  either  the  moral,  emotional,  esthetic  or  spiritual 
nature  —  a  piece  ("Our  American  Cousin")  in 
which,  among  other  characters  so  called,  a  Yankee, 
certainly  such  a  one  as  was  never  seen,  or  at  least 
ever  seen  in  North  America,  is  introduced  in 
England,  with  a  varied  fol-de-rol  of  talk,  plot, 
scenery,  and  such  phantasmagoria  as  goes  to  make 
up  a  modern  popular  drama  —  had  progressed 
through  perhaps  a  couple  of  its  acts,  when  in  the 
midst  of  this  comedy,  or  tragedy,  or  non-such,  or 
whatever  it  is  to  be  called,  and  to  offset  it,  or  finish 
it  out,  as  if  in  Nature's  and  the  Great  Muse's  mock 
ery  of  these  poor  mimics,  come  interpolated  that 
scene,  not  really  or  exactly  to  be  described  at  all 
(for  on  the  many  hundreds  who  were  there  it 
seems  to  this  hour  to  have  left  little  but  a  passing 
blur,  a  dream,  a  blotch)  — and  yet  partially  to  be 
described  as  I  now  proceed  to  give  it: 

There  is  a  scene   in  the  play  representing  the 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  131 

modern  parlor,  in  which  two  unprecedented  Eng 
lish  ladies  are  informed  by  the  unprecedented  and 
impossible  Yankee  that  he  is  not  a  man  of  fortune, 
and  therefore  undesirable  for  marriage  catching 
purposes ;  after  which,  the  comments  being  finished, 
the  dramatic  trio  make  exit,  leaving  the  stage  clear 
for  a  moment.  There  was  a  pause,  a  hush,  as  it 
were.  At  this  period  came  the  murder  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Great  as  that  was,  with  all  its  manifold 
train  circling  around  it,  and  stretching  into  the  fu 
ture  for  many  a  century,  in  the  politics,  history,  art, 
etc.,  of  the  New  World,  in  point  of  fact,  the  main 
thing,  the  actual  murder,  transpired  with  the  quiet 
and  simplicity  of  any  commonest  occurrence  —  the 
bursting  of  a  bud  or  pod  in  the  growth  of  vegeta 
tion,  for  instance. 

Through  the  general  hum  following  the  stage 
pause,  with  the  change  of  positions,  etc.,  came  the 
muffled  sound  of  a  pistol  shot,  which  not  one- 
hundredth  part  of  the  audience  heard  at  the  time 
—  and  yet  a  moment's  hush  —  somehow,  surely 
a  vague,  startled  thrill  —  and  then,  through  the 
ornamented,  draperied,  starred,  and  striped  space- 
way  of  the  President's  box,  a  sudden  figure,  a  man, 
raises  himself  with  hands  and  feet,  stands  a  mo 
ment  on  the  railing,  leaps  below  to  the  stage  (a 
distance  of  perhaps  14  or  15  feet),  falls  out  of 
position,  catching  his  boot  heel  in  the  copious  dra 
pery  (the  American  flag),  falls  on  one  knee,  quickly 
recovers  himself,  rises  as  if  nothing  had  happened 
(he  really  sprains  his  ankle,  but  unfelt  then)  — 
and  the  figure,  Booth,  the  murderer,  dressed  in 


132  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

plain  black  broadcloth,  bare-headed,  with  a  full 
head  of  glossy,  raven  hair,  and  his  eyes,  like  some 
mad  animal's  flashing  with  light  and  resolution,  yet 
with  a  certain  strange  calmness,  holds  aloft  in  one 
hand  a  large  knife  —  walks  along  not  much  back  of 
the  foot-lights  —  turns  fully  towards  the  audience 
his  face  of  statuesque  beauty,  lit  by  those  basilisk 
eyes,  flashing  with  desperation,  perhaps  insanity  — 
launches  out  in  a  firm  and  steady  voice  the  words 
Sic  Semper  Tyrannis  —  and  then  walks  with 
neither  slow  nor  very  rapid  pace  diagonally  across 
to  the  back  of  the  stage,  and  disappears.  (Had 
not  all  this  terrible  scene  —  making  the  mimic  ones 
preposterous  —  had  it  not  all  been  rehearsed,  in 
blank,  by  Booth,  beforehand?) 

A  moment's  hush,  incredulous  —  a  scream  —  the 
cry  of  murder  —  Mrs.  Lincoln  leaning  out  of  the 
box,  with  ashy  cheeks  and  lips,  with  involuntary 
cry,  pointing  to  the  retreating  figure,  "  He  has 
killed  the  President."  And  still  a  moment's 
strange,  incredulous  suspense  —  and  then  the 
deluge !  —  then  that  mixture  of  horror,  noises,  un 
certainty —  (the  sound,  somewhere  back,  of  a 
horse's  hoofs  clattering  with  speed)  the  people 
burst  through  chairs  and  railings,  and  break  them 
up  —  that  noise  adds  to  the  queerness  of  the  scene 
—  there  is  extricable  confusion  and  terror  — 
women  faint  —  quite  feeble  persons  fall,  and  are 
trampled  on  —  many  cries  of  agony  are  heard  — 
the  broad  stage  suddenly  fills  to  suffocation  with  a 
dense  and  motley  crowd,  like  some  horrible  carni 
val —  the  audience  rush  generally  upon  it  —  at 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  133 

least  the  strong1  men  do  —  the  actors  and  actresses 
are  there  in  their  play  costumes  and  painted  faces, 
with  moral  fright  showing  through  the  rouge  — 
some  trembling,  some  in  tears,  the  screams  and 
calls,  confused  talk  —  redoubled,  trebled  —  two  or 
three  manage  to  pass  up  water  from  the  stage  to 
the  President's  box  —  others  try  to  clamber  up  — 
etc.,  etc. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  the  soldiers  of  the  Presi 
dent's  Guard,  with  others,  suddenly  drawn  to  the 
scene,  burst  in  —  some  200  altogether  —  they  storm 
the  house,  through  all  the  tiers,  especially  the  upper 
ones  —  inflamed  with  fury,  literally  charging  the 
audience  with  fixed  bayonets,  muskets  and  pistols, 
shouting  "  Clear  out !  clear  out !  .  .  .  Such  the 
wild  scene,  or  a  suggestion  of  it,  rather,  inside  the 
play  house  that  night. 

Outside,  too,  in  the  atmosphere  of  shock  and 
craze,  crowds  of  people  filled  with  frenzy,  ready 
to  seize  any  outlet  for  it,  came  near  committing 
murder  several  times  on  innocent  individuals.  One 
such  case  was  especially  exciting.  The  infuriated 
crowd,  through  some  chance,  got  started  against 
one  man,  either  for  words  he  uttered,  or  perhaps 
without  any  cause  at  all,  and  were  proceeding  at 
once  to  hang  him  on  a  neighboring  lamp-post,  when 
he  was  rescued  by  a  few  heroic  policemen,  who 
placed  him  in  their  midst  and  fought  their  way 
slowly  and  amid  great  peril  toward  the  station 
house.  It  was  a  fitting  episode  of  the  whole  af 
fair.  The  crowd  rushing  and  eddying  to  and  fro, 
the  night,  the  yells,  the  pale  faces,  many  fright- 


134  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ened  people  trying  in  vain  to  extricate  themselves, 
the  attacked  man,  not  yet  freed  from  the  jaws  of 
death,  looking  like  a  corpse,  the  silent,  resolute 
half  dozen  policemen,  with  no  weapons  but  their 
little  clubs,  yet  stern  and  steady  through  all  those 
eddying  swarms  —  made  indeed  a  fitting  side  scene 
to  the  grand  tragedy  of  the  murder.  They  gained 
the  station  house  with  the  protected  man,  whom 
they  placed  in  security  for  the  night  and  discharged 
in  the  morning. 

And  in  the  midst  of  that  night  pandemonium  of 
senseless  hate,  infuriated  soldiers,  the  audience  and 
the  crowd  —  the  stage,  and  all  its  actors  and  ac 
tresses,  its  paint  pots,  spangles  and  gaslight  —  the 
life  blood  from  those  veins,  the  best  and  sweetest 
of  the  land,  drips  slowly  down. 

Such,  hurriedly  sketched,  were  the  accompani 
ments  of  the  death  of  President  Lincoln.  So  sud 
denly,  and  in  murder  and  horror  unsurpassed,  he 
was  taken  from  us.  But  his  death  was  painless. 


HUSH'D  BE  THE  CAMPS  TO-DAY1 
(May  4,  1865) 

BY   WALT    WHITMAN 

Hush'd  be  the  camps  to-day, 

And  soldiers,  let  us  drape  our  war-worn  weapons, 
And  each  with  musing  soul  retire  to  celebrate 
Our  dear  commander's  death. 

1By  permission  of  David  McKay. 


MEMORY  OF  LINCOLN  135 

No  more  for  him  life's  stormy  conflicts, 

Nor   victory,   nor   defeat  —  no   more   time's    dark 

events, 
Charging  like  ceaseless  clouds  across  the  sky. 

But  sing,  poet,  in  our  name. 

Sing    of    the    love    we    bore    him  —  because    you, 
dweller  in  camps,  know  it  truly. 

As  they  invault  the  coffin  there, 

Sing  —  as  they  close  the  doors  of  earth  upon  him 

—  one  verse, 
For  the  heavy  hearts  of  soldiers. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

(1865) 

BY    WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT 

O,  slow  to  smite  and  swift  to  spare, 

Gentle  and  merciful  and  just! 
Who,  in  the  fear  of  God,  didst  bear 

The  sword  of  power  —  a  nation's  trust. 

In  sorrow  by  thy  bier  we  stand, 

Amid  the  awe  that  hushes  all, 
And  speak  the  anguish  of  a  land 

That  shook  with  horror  at  thy  fall. 

Thy  task  is  done  —  the  bond  are  free; 

We  bear  thee  to  an  honored  grave, 
Whose  noblest  monument  shall  be 

The  broken  fetters  of  the  slave. 


136  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Pure  was  thy  life;  its  bloody  close 

Hath  placed  thee  with  the  sons  of  light, 

Among  the  noble  host  of  those 

Who  perished  in  the  cause  of  right. 


CROWN  HIS  BLOODSTAINED  PILLOW 

BY   JULIA   WARD   HOWE 

Crown  his  blood-stained  pillow 

With  a  victor's  palm; 
Life's    receding   billow 

Leaves  eternal  calm. 

At  the  feet  Almighty 

Lay  this  gift  sincere ; 
Of  a  purpose  weighty, 

And  a  record  clear. 

With  deliverance  freighted 

Was  this  passive  hand, 
And  this  heart,  high-fated, 

Would  with  love  command. 

Let  him  rest  serenely 

In  a  Nation's  care, 
Where  her  waters  queenly 

Make  the  West  more  fair. 

In  the  greenest  meadow 

That  the  prairies  show, 
Let  his  marble's  shadow 

Give  all  men  to  know: 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  137 

"  Our  First  Hero,  living, 

Made  his  country  free; 
Heed  the  Second's  giving, 
Death  for  Liberty." 


THE  DEATH  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  x 

BY    WALT    WHITMAN 

Thus  ended  the  attempted  secession  of  these 
States ;  thus  the  four  years'  war.  But  the  main 
things  come  subtly  and  invisibly  afterward,  per 
haps  long  afterward  —  neither  military,  political, 
nor  (great  as  those  are),  historical.  I  say,  cer 
tain  secondary  and  indirect  results,  out  of  the 
tragedy  of  this  death,  are,  in  my  opinion,  greatest. 
Not  the  event  of  the  murder  itself.  Not  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  strings  the  principal  points  and  person 
ages  of  the  period,  like  beads,  upon  the  single 
string  of  his  career.  Not  that  his  idiosyncrasy,  in 
its  sudden  appearance  and  disappearance,  stamps 
this  Republic  with  a  stamp  more  mark'd  and  en 
during  than  any  yet  given  by  any  one  man  — 
(more  even  than  Washington's)  — but,  join'd  with 
these,  the  immeasurable  value  and  meaning  of  that 
whole  tragedy  lies,  to  me,  in  senses  finally  dearest 
to  a  nation  (and  here  all  our  own)  — the  imagi 
native  and  artistic  senses  —  the  literary  and  dra 
matic  ones.  Not  in  any  common  or  low  meaning 
of  those  terms,  but  a  meaning  precious  to  the  race, 

1  By  permission  of  David  McKay, 


138  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

and  to  every  age.  A  long  and  varied  series  of 
contradictory  events  arrives  at  last  at  its  highest 
poetic,  single,  central,  pictorial  denouement.  The 
whole  involved,  baffling,  multiform  whirl  of  the 
secession  period  comes  to  a  head,  and  is  gather'd 
in  one  brief  flash  of  lightning-illumination  —  one 
simple,  fierce  deed.  Its  sharp  culmination,  and  as 
it  were  solution,  of  so  many  bloody  and  angry 
problems,  illustrates  those  climax-moments  on  the 
stage  of  universal  Time,  where  the  historic  Muse 
at  one  entrance,  and  the  tragic  Muse  at  the  other, 
suddenly  ringing  down  the  curtain,  close  an  im 
mense  act  in  the  long  drama  of  creative  thought, 
and  give  it  radiation,  tableau,  stranger  than  fiction. 
Fit  radiation  —  fit  close!  How  the  imagination  — 
how  the  student  loves  these  things!  America,  too, 
is  to  have  them.  For  not  in  all  great  deaths,  nor 
far  or  near  —  not  Caesar  in  the  Roman  senate- 
house,  nor  Napoleon  passing  away  in  the  wild 
night-storm  at  St.  Helena  —  not  Paleologus,  fall 
ing,  desperately  fighting,  piled  over  dozens  deep 
with  Grecian  corpses  —  not  calm  old  Socrates, 
drinking  the  hemlock  —  outvies  that  terminus  of 
the  secession  war,  in  one  man's  life,  here  in  our 
midst,  in  our  own  time  —  that  seal  of  the  emanci 
pation  of  three  million  slaves  —  that  parturition 
and  delivery  of  our  at  last  really  free  Republic, 
born  again,  henceforth  to  commence  its  career  of 
genuine  homogeneous  Union,  compact,  consistent 
with  itself. 


OUR  SUN  HATH  GONE  DOWN      139 


OUR  SUN  HATH  GONE  DOWN1 

BY    PHCEBE    GARY 

Our  sun  hath  gone  down  at  the  noonday, 

The  heavens  are  black; 
And  over  the  morning  the  shadows 

Of  night-time  are  back. 

Stop  the  proud  boasting  mouth  of  the  cannon, 
Hush  the  mirth  and  the  shout ; — 

God  is  God !  and  the  ways  of  Jehovah 
Are  past  finding  out. 

Lo!  the  beautiful  feet  on  the  mountains, 

That  yesterday  stood; 
The  white  feet  that  came  with  glad  tidings, 

Are  dabbled  in  blood. 

The  Nation  that  firmly  was  settling 

The  crown  on  her  head, 
Sits,  like  Rizpah,  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 

And  watches  her  dead. 

Who  is  dead?  who,  unmoved  by  our  wailing, 

Is  lying  so  low? 
O,  my  Land,  stricken  dumb  in  your  anguish, 

Do  you  feel,  do  you  know, 

1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


140  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

That  the  hand  which  reached  out  of  the  dark 
ness 

Hath  taken  the  whole? 
Yea,  the  arm  and  the  head  of  the  people  — 

The  heart  and  the  soul! 

And  that  heart,  o'er  whose  dread  awful  silence 

A  nation  has  wept; 
Was  the  truest,  and  gentlest,  and  sweetest, 

A  man  ever  kept ! 

Once  this  good  man,  we  mourn,  overwearied, 

Worn,  anxious,  oppressed, 
Was  going  out  from  his  audience  chamber 

For  a  season  to  rest; 

Unheeding  the  thousands  who  waited 

To  honor  and  greet, 
When  the  cry  of  a  child  smote  upon  him, 

And  turned  back  his  feet. 

"  Three  days  hath  a  woman  been  waiting," 

Said  they,  "  patient  and  meek." 
And  he  answered,  "  Whatever  her  errand, 
Let  me  hear ;  let  her  speak ! " 

So  she  came,  and  stood  trembling  before  him, 

And  pleaded  her  cause; 
Told  him  all ;  how  her  child's  erring  father 

Had  broken  the  laws. 

Humbly  spake  she :     "  I  mourn  for  his  folly, 

His  weakness,  his  fall  " ; 
Proudly  spake  she :  "  he  is  not  a  TRAITOR, 

And  I  love  him  through  all !  " 


OUR  SUN  HATH  GONE  DOWN       141 

Then  the  great  man,  whose  heart  had  been 

shaken 

By  a  little  babe's  cry; 
Answered  soft,  taking  counsel  of  mercy, 
"  This  man  shall  not  die !  " 

Why,  he  heard  from  the  dungeons,  the  rice- 
fields, 

The  dark  holds  of  ships ; 
Every  faint,  feeble  cry  which  oppression 

Smothered  down  on  men's  lips. 

In  her  furnace,  the  centuries  had  welded 

Their  fetter  and  chain; 
And  like  withes,  in  the  hands  of  his  purpose, 

He  snapped  them  in  twain. 

Who  can  be  what  he  was  to  the  people; 

What  he  was  to  the  State? 
Shall  the  ages  bring  to  us  another 

As  good,  and  as  great? 

Our  hearts  with  their  anguish  are  broken, 

Our  wet  eyes  are  dim ; 
For  us  is  the  loss  and  the  sorrow, 

The  triumph  for  him! 

For,  ere  this,  face  to  face  with  his  Father 

Our  Martyr  hath  stood; 
Giving  unto  his  hand  the  white  record, 

With  its  great  seal  of  blood! 


142  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

TOLLING1 
{April  15,  186s)1 

BY   LUCY   LARCOM 

Tolling,   tolling,    tolling ! 

All  the  bells  of  the  land! 
Lo,  the  patriot  martyr 

Taketh  his  journey  grand! 
Travels  into  the  ages, 

Bearing  a  hope  how  dear! 
Into  life's  unknown  vistas, 

Liberty's  great  pioneer. 

Tolling,  tolling,  tolling! 

See,  they  come  as  a  cloud, 
Hearts  of  a  mighty  people, 

Bearing  his  pall  and  shroud; 
Lifting  up,  like  a  banner, 

Signals  of  loss  and  woe; 
Wonder  of  breathless  nations, 

Moveth  the  solemn  show. 

Tolling,  tolling,  tolling! 

Was  it,  O  man  beloved, 
Was  it  thy  funeral  only 

Over  the  land  that  moved? 
Veiled  by  that  hour  of  anguish, 

Borne  with  the  rebel  rout, 
Forth  into  utter  darkness, 

Slavery's  curse  went  out. 
1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  143 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN1 
"  Strangulatus  Pro  Republica  " 

BY   ROSE   TERRY   COOKE 

Hundreds  there  have  been,  loftier  than  their  kind, 
Heroes  and  victors  in  the  world's  great  wars : 
Hundreds,  exalted  as  the  eternal  stars, 
By  the  great  heart,  or  keen  and  mighty  mind ; 
There  have  been  sufferers,  maimed  and  halt  and 

blind, 

Who  bore  their  woes  in  such  triumphant  calm 
That  God  hath  crowned  them  with  the  martyr's 

palm; 
And  there  were  those  who  fought  through  fire  to 

find 

Their  Master's  face,  and  were  by  fire  refined. 
But  who  like  thee,  oh  Sire!  hath  ever  stood 
Steadfast  for  truth  and  right,  when  lies  and  wrong 
Rolled   their    dark   waters,   turbulent   and   strong; 
Who  bore  reviling,  baseness,  tears  and  blood 
Poured  out  like  water,  till  thine  own  was  spent, 
Then  reaped  Earth's  sole  reward  —  a  grave  and 

monument ! 


*By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifllin  &  Company. 


144  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

EFFECT  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  LINCOLN 

BY    HENRY    WARD    BEECHER 

Again  a  great  leader  of  the  people  has  passed 
through  toil,  sorrow,  battle  and  war,  and  come 
near  to  the  promised  land  of  peace  into  which  he 
might  not  pass  over.  Who  shall  recount  our  mar 
tyr's  sufferings  for  this  people?  Since  the  No 
vember  of  1860,  his  horizon  has  been  black  with 
storms. 

By  day  and  by  night,  he  trod  a  way  of  danger 
and  darkness.  On  his  shoulders  rested  a  govern 
ment  dearer  to  him  than  his  own  life.  At  its 
integrity  millions  of  men  were  striking  at  home. 
Upon  this  government  foreign  eyes  lowered.  It 
stood  like  a  lone  island  in  a  sea  full  of  storms, 
and  every  tide  and  wave  seemed  eager  to  devour  it. 
Upon  thousands  of  hearts  great  sorrows  and 
anxieties  have  rested,  but  not  on  one  such,  and 
in  such  measure,  as  upon  that  simple,  truthful, 
noble  soul,  our  faithful  and  sainted  Lincoln. 
Never  rising  to  the  enthusiasm  of  more  impas 
sioned  natures  in  hours  of  hope,  and  never  sink 
ing  with  the  mercurial,  in  hours  of  defeat,  to  the 
depths  of  despondency,  he  held  on  with  immov 
able  patience  and  fortitude,  putting  caution  against 
hope,  that  it  might  not  be  premature,  and  hope 
against  caution  that  it  might  not  yield  to  dread 
and  danger.  He  wrestled  ceaselessly,  through  four 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  145 

black  and  dreadful  purgatorial  years,  wherein  God 
was  cleansing  the  sin  of  His  people  as  by  fire. 

At  last,  the  watcher  beheld  the  gray  dawn  for 
the  country.  The  mountains  began  to  give  forth 
their  forms  from  out  the  darkness  and  the  East 
came  rushing  toward  us  with  arms  full  of  joy  for 
all  our  sorrows.  Then  it  was  for  him  to  be  glad 
exceedingly  that  had  sorrowed  immeasurably. 
Peace  could  bring  to  no  other  heart  such  joy  and 
rest,  such  honor,  such  trust,  such  gratitude.  But 
he  looked  upon  it  as  Moses  looked  upon  the 
promised  land.  Then  the  wail  of  a  nation  pro 
claimed  that  he  had  gone  from  among  us.  Not 
thine  the  sorrow,  but  ours,  sainted  soul.  Thou 
hast,  indeed,  entered  the  promised  land,  while  we 
are  yet  on  the  march.  To  us  remain  the  rocking 
of  the  deep,  the  storm  upon  the  land,  days  of  duty 
and  nights  of  watching;  but  thou  art  sphered  high 
above  all  darkness  and  fear,  beyond  all  sorrow  and 
weariness.  Rest,  O  weary  heart!  Rejoice  ex 
ceedingly, —  thou  that  hast  enough  suffered !  Thou 
hast  beheld  Him  who  invisibly  led  thee  in  this 
great  wilderness.  Thou  standest  among  the  elect. 
Around  thee  are  the  royal  men  that  have  ennobled 
human  life  in  every  age.  Kingly  art  thou,  with 
glory  on  thy  brow  as  a  diadem.  And  joy  is  upon 
thee  for  evermore.  Over  all  this  land,  over  all 
the  little  cloud  of  years  that  now  from  thine  in 
finite  horizon  moves  back  as  a  speck,  thou  art 
lifted  up  as  high  as  the  star  is  above  the  clouds 
that  hide  us,  but  never  reach  it.  In  the  goodly 


146  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

company  of  Mount  Zion  thou  shalt  find  that  rest 
which  thou  hast  sorrowing  sought  in  vain;  and 
thy  name,  an  everlasting  name  in  heaven,  shall 
flourish  in  fragrance  and  beauty  as  long  as  men 
shall  last  upon  the  earth,  or  hearts  remain,  to 
revere  truth,  fidelity  and  goodness. 

Never  did  two  such  orbs  of  experience  meet  in 
one  hemisphere,  as  the  joy  and  the  sorrow  of  the 
same  week  in  this  land.  The  joy  was  as  sudden 
as  if  no  man  had  expected  it,  and  as  entrancing 
as  if  it  had  fallen  a  sphere  from  heaven.  It  rose 
up  over  sobriety,  and  swept  business  from  its  moor 
ings,  and  ran  down  through  the  land  in  irresistible 
course.  Men  embraced  each  other  in  brotherhood 
that  were  strangers  in  the  flesh.  They  sang,  or 
prayed,  or  deeper  yet,  many  could  only  think 
thanksgiving  and  weep  gladness. 

That  peace  was  sure;  that  government  was 
firmer  than  ever;  that  the  land  was  cleansed  of 
plague;  that  the  ages  were  opening  to  our  foot 
steps,  and  we  were  to  begin  a  march  of  blessings ; 
that  blood  was  staunched  and  scowling  enmities 
were  sinking  like  storms  beneath  the  horizon;  that 
the  dear  fatherland,  nothing  lost,  much  gained,  was 
to  rise  up  in  unexampled  honor  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth  —  these  thoughts,  and  that  undis- 
tinguishable  throng  of  fancies,  and  hopes,  and  de 
sires,  and  yearnings,  that  filled  the  soul  with  trem 
blings  like  the  heated  air  of  midsummer  days  — 
all  these  kindled  up  such  a  surge  of  joy  as  no  words 
may  describe. 

In  one  hour,  joy  lay  without  a  pulse,  without 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  147 

a  gleam  or  breath.  A  sorrow  came  that  swept 
through  the  land  as  huge  storms  sweep  through  the 
forest  and  field,  rolling  thunder  along  the  sky,  dis 
heveling  the  flowers,  daunting  every  singer  in 
thicket  or  forest,  and  pouring  blackness  and  dark 
ness  across  the  land  and  up  the  mountains.  Did 
ever  so  many  hearts,  in  so  brief  a  time,  touch  two 
such  boundless  feelings?  It  was  the  uttermost  of 
joy;  it  was  the  uttermost  of  sorrow  —  noon  and 
midnight,  without  a  space  between. 

The  blow  brought  not  a  sharp  pang.  It  was  so 
terrible  that  at  first  it  stunned  sensibility.  Citi 
zens  were  like  men  awakened  at  midnight  by  an 
earthquake,  and  bewildered  to  find  everything  that 
they  were  accustomed  to  trust  wavering  and  fall 
ing.  The  very  earth  was  no  longer  solid.  The 
first  feeling  was  the  least.  Men  waited  to  get 
strength  to  feel.  They  wandered  in  the  streets  as 
if  groping  after  some  impending  dread,  or  unde 
veloped  sorrow,  or  some  one  to  tell  them  what  ailed 
them.  They  met  each  other  as  if  each  would  ask 
the  other,  *'  Am  I  awake,  or  do  I  dream  ?  "  There 
was  a  piteous  helplessness.  Strong  men  bowed 
down  and  wept.  Other  and  common  griefs  be 
longed  to  someone  in  chief;  this  belonged  to 
all.  It  was  each  and  every  man's.  Every  vir 
tuous  household  in  the  land  felt  as  if  its  first 
born  were  gone.  Men  were  bereaved  and  walked 
for  days  as  if  a  corpse  lay  unburied  in  their 
dwellings.  There  was  nothing  else  to  think  of. 
They  could  speak  of  nothing  but  that ;  and  yet  of 
that  they  could  speak  only  falteringly.  All  busi- 


148  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ness  was  laid  aside.  Pleasure  forgot  to  smile. 
The  city  for  nearly  a  week  ceased  to  roar.  The 
great  Leviathan  lay  down,  and  was  still.  Even 
avarice  stood  still,  and  greed  was  strangely  moved 
to  generous  sympathy  and  universal  sorrow.  Rear 
to  his  name  monuments,  found  charitable  institu 
tions,  and  write  his  name  above  their  lintels,  but  no 
monument  will  ever  equal  the  universal,  spontan 
eous,  and  sublime  sorrow  that  in  a  moment  swept 
down  lines  and  parties,  and  covered  up  animosities, 
in  an  hour  brought  a  divided  people  into  unity  of 
grief  and  indivisible  fellowship  of  anguish. 

This  Nation  has  dissolved  —  but  in  tears  only. 
It  stands  four-square,  more  solid  to-day  than  any 
pyramid  in  Egypt.  This  people  are  neither  wasted, 
nor  daunted,  nor  disordered.  Men  hate  slavery 
and  love  liberty  with  stronger  hate  and  love  to 
day  than  ever  before.  The  government  is  not 
weakened ;  it  is  made  stronger.  How  naturally 
and  easily  were  the  ranks  closed !  Another  steps 
forward,  in  the  hour  that  one  fell,  to  take  his  place 
and  his  mantle;  and  I  avow  my  belief  that  he  will 
be  found  a  man  true  to  every  instinct  of  liberty; 
true  to  the  whole  trust  that  is  reposed  in  him; 
vigilant  of  the  Constitution ;  careful  of  the  laws ; 
wise  for  liberty,  in  that  he  himself,  through  his 
life,  has  known  what  it  was  to  suffer  from  the 
stings  of  slavery,  and  to  prize  liberty  from  bitter 
personal  experiences. 

Where  could  the  head  of  government  of  any 
monarchy  be  smitten  down  by  the  hand  of  an  as 
sassin,  and  the  funds  not  quiver  or  fall  one-half  of 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN  149 

one  per  cent  ?  After  a  long  period  of  national  dis 
turbance,  after  four  years  of  drastic  war,  after  tre 
mendous  drafts  on  the  resources  of  the  country,  in 
the  height  and  top  of  our  burdens,  the  heart  of  this 
people  is  such  that  now,  when  the  head  of  govern 
ment  is  stricken  down,  the  public  funds  do  not 
waver,  but  stand  as  the  granite  ribs  in  our  moun 
tains. 

Republican  institutions  have  been  vindicated  in 
this  experience  as  they  never  were  before ;  and  the 
whole  history  of  the  last  four  years,  rounded  up  by 
this  cruel  stroke,  seems  in  the  providence  of  God, 
to  have  been  clothed  now,  with  an  illustration,  with 
a  sympathy,  with  an  aptness,  and  with  a  sig 
nificance,  such  as  we  never  could  have  expected  nor 
imagined.  God,  I  think,  has  said,  by  the  voice  of 
this  event,  to  all  nations  of  the  earth :  "  Republi 
can  liberty,  based  upon  true  Christianity,  is  firm  as 
the  foundation  of  the  globe." 

Even  he  who  now  sleeps  has,  by  this  event,  been 
clothed  with  new  influence.  Dead,  he  speaks  to 
men  who  now  willingly  hear  what  before  they  re 
fused  to  listen  to.  Now  his  simple  and  weighty 
words  will  be  gathered  like  those  of  Washington, 
and  your  children  and  your  children's  children  shall 
be  taught  to  ponder  the  simplicity  and  deep  wisdom 
of  utterances  which,  in  their  time,  passed,  in  party 
heat,  as  idle  words.  Men  will  receive  a  new  im 
pulse  of  patriotism  for  his  sake,  and  will  guard 
with  zeal  the  whole  country  which  he  loved  so  well. 
I  swear  you,  on  the  altar  of  his  memory,  to  be  more 
faithful  to  the  country  for  which  he  has  perished. 


150  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

They  will,  as  they  follow  his  hearse,  swear  a  new 
hatred  to  that  slavery  against  which  he  warred,  and 
which,  in  vanquishing  him,  has  made  him  a  martyr 
and  a  conqueror.  I  swear  you,  by  the  memory  of 
this  martyr,  to  hate  slavery,  with  an  unappeasable 
hatred.  They  will  admire  and  imitate  the  firmness 
of  this  man,  his  inflexible  conscience  for  the  right, 
and  yet  his  gentleness,  as  tender  as  a  woman's,  his 
moderation  of  spirit,  which  not  all  the  heat  of  party 
could  inflame,  nor  all  the  jars  and  disturbances  of 
his  country  shake  out  of  place.  I  swear  you  to  an 
emulation  of  his  justice,  his  moderation,  and  his 
mercy. 

You  I  can  comfort ;  but  how  can  I  speak  to  that 
twilight  million  to  whom  his  name  was  as  the  name 
of  an  angel  of  God?  There  will  be  wailing  in 
places  which  no  minister  shall  be  able  to  reach. 
When,  in  hovel  and  in  cot,  in  wood  and  in  wilder 
ness,  in  the  field  throughout  the  South,  the  dusky 
children,  who  looked  upon  him  as  that  Moses 
whom  God  sent  before  them  to  lead  them  out  of 
the  land  of  bondage,  learn  that  he  has  fallen,  who 
shall  comfort  them?  O,  thou  Shepherd  of  Israel, 
that  didst  comfort  Thy  people  of  old,  to  Thy  care 
we  commit  the  helpless,  the  long-wronged,  and 
grieved. 

And  now  the  martyr  is  moving  in  triumphal 
march,  mightier  than  when  alive.  The  Nation 
rises  up  at  every  stage  of  his  coming.  Cities  and 
States  are  his  pallbearers,  and  the  cannon  beats  the 
hours  with  solemn  progression.  Dead,  dead,  dead, 
he  yet  speaketh.  Is  Washington  dead?  Is  Hamp- 


HYMN  151 

den  dead?  Is  David  dead?  Is  any  man  that  was 
ever  fit  to  live  dead?  Disenthralled  of  flesh,  and 
risen  in  the  unobstructed  sphere  where  passion 
never  comes,  he  begins  his  illimitable  work.  His 
life  now  is  grafted  upon  the  infinite,  and  will  be 
fruitful  as  no  earthly  life  can  be. 

Pass  on,  thou  that  hast  overcome.  Your  sorrows, 
O  people,  are  his  peace.  Your  bells  and  bands  and 
muffled  drums  sound  triumph  in  his  ear.  Wail  and 
weep  here ;  God  made  it  echo  joy  and  triumph  there. 
Pass  on. 

Four  years  ago,  O  Illinois,  we  took  from  your 
midst  an  untried  man,  and  from  among  the  people. 
We  return  him  to  you  a  mighty  conqueror.  Not 
thine  any  more,  but  the  Nation's;  not  ours,  but  the 
world's.  Give  him  place,  O  ye  prairies.  In  the 
midst  of  this  great  continent  his  dust  shall  rest,  a 
sacred  treasure  to  myriads  who  shall  pilgrim  to 
that  shrine  to  kindle  anew  their  zeal  and  patriotism. 
Ye  winds  that  move  over  the  mighty  places  of  the 
West,  chant  his  requiem.  Ye  people,  behold  a 
martyr  whose  blood  as  so  many  articulate  words, 
pleads  for  fidelity,  for  law,  for  liberty. 


HYMN1 
BY  OLIVER  WENDELL;  HOLMES 

O  Thou  of  soul  and  sense  and  breath, 

The  ever-present  Giver, 
1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company, 


152  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Unto  Thy  mighty  angel,  death, 

All  flesh  thou  didst  deliver ; 
What  most  we  cherish,  we  resign, 
For  life  and  death  alike  are  Thine, 
Who  reignest  Lord  forever! 

Our   hearts   lie   buried   in   the   dust 
With  him,  so  true  and  tendei, 

The  patriot's  stay,  the  people's  trust, 
The  shield  of  the  offender ; 

Yet  every  murmuring  voice  is  still, 

As,  bowing  to  Thy  sovereign  will, 
Our  best  loved  we  surrender. 

Dear  Lord,  with  pitying  eye  behold 

This  martyr  generation, 
Which  Thou,  through  trials  manifold, 

Art  showing  Thy  salvation! 
O  let  the  blood  by  murder  split 
Wash  out  Thy  stricken  children's  guilt, 

And  sanctify  our  nation ! 

Be  Thou  Thy  orphaned  Israel's  friend, 
Forsake  Thy  people  never, 

In  One  our  broken  Many  blend, 
That  none  again  may  sever! 

Hear  us,  O  Father,  while  we  raise 

With  trembling  lips  our  song  of  praise, 
And  bless  Thy  name  forever! 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  153 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
Foully  Assassinated  April  14,  1865 

BY  TOM  TAYLOR   (MARK  LEMON)   IN  LONDON  PUNCH. 

You  lay  a  wreath  on  murdered  Lincoln's  bier, 
You,  who  with  mocking  pencil  wont  to  trace, 

Broad  for  the  self-complacent  British  sneer, 

His  length  of  shambling  limb,  his  furrowed  face, 

His  gaunt,  gnarled  hands,  his  unkempt,  bristling 
hair, 

His  garb  uncouth,  his  bearing  ill  at  ease, 
His  lack  of  all  we  prize  as  debonair, 

Of  power  or  will  to  shine,  of  art  to  please; 

You  whose  smart  pen  backed  up  the  pencil's  laugh, 
Judging  each  step  as  though  the  way  were  plain ; 

Reckless,  so  it  could  point  its  paragraph, 
Of  chief's  perplexity,  or  people's  pain: 

Beside  this  corpse,  that  bears  for  winding-sheet 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  he  lived  to  rear  anew, 

Between  the  mourners  at  his  head  and  feet, 
Say,  scurrile  jester,  is  there  room  for  you? 

Yes :  he  had  lived  to  shame  me  from  my  sneer, 
To  lame  my  pencil,  and  confute  my  pen : — 

To  make  me  own  this  man  of  princes  peer, 
This  rail-splitter  a  true-born  king  of  men. 


154  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

My  shallow  judgment  I  had  learned  to  rue, 
Noting  how  to  occasion's  height  he  rose; 

How  his  quaint  wit  made  home-truth  seem  more 

true; 
How,  iron-like,  his  temper  grew  by  blows. 

How  humble,  yet  how  hopeful  he  could  be : 
How  in  good  fortune  and  in  ill,  the  same : 

Nor  bitter  in  success,  nor  boastful  he, 
Thirsty  for  gold,  nor  feverish  for  fame. 

He  went  about  his  work, —  such  work  as  few 
Ever  had  laid  on  head  and  heart  and  hand, — 

As  one  who  knows,  where  there's  a  task  to  do, 
Mail's  honest  will  must  heaven's  good  grace  com 
mand  ; 

Who  trusts  the  strength  will  with  the  burden  grow, 
That  God  makes  instruments  to  work  His  will, 

If  but  that  wrill  we  can  arrive  to  know, 

Nor  tamper  with  the  weights  of  good  and  ill. 

So  he  went  forth  to  battle,  on  the  side 

That  he  felt  clear  was  Liberty's  and  Right's, 

As  in  his  peasant  boyhood  he  had  plied 

His     warfare    with     rude     Nature's     thwarting 
mights, — 

The  uncleared  forest,  the  unbroken  soil, 

The  iron-bark,  that  turns  the  lumberer's  axe, 

The  rapid,  that  overbears  the  boatsman's  toil, 
The  prairie,  hiding  the  mazed  wanderer's  tracks, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  155 

The  ambushed  Indian,  and  the  prowling  bear ;  — 
Such  were  the  deeds  that  helped   his  youth  to 

train : 
Rough   culture, —  but   such   trees   large   fruit   may 

bear, 
If  but  their  stocks  be  of  right  girth  and  grain. 

So  he  grew  up,  a  destined  work  to  do, 

And  lived  to  do  it:  four  long  suffering  years, 

Ill-fate,  ill-feeling,  ill-report,  lived  through, 
And  then  he  heard  the  hisses  change  to  cheers. 

The  taunts  to  tribute,  the  abuse  to  praise, 

And  took  both  with  the  same  unwavering  mood : 

Till,  as  he  came  on  light,  from  darkling  days, 
And  seem  to  touch  the  goal  from  where  he  stood, 

A  felon  hand,  between  the  goal  and  him, 

Reached  from  behind  his  back,  a  trigger  prest, — 

And  those  perplexed  and  patient  eyes  were  dim, 
Those   gaunt,   long-laboring  limbs   were   laid  to 
rest! 

The  words  of  mercy  were  upon  his  lips, 
Forgiveness  in  his  heart  and  on  his  pen, 

When  this  vile  murderer  brought  swift  eclipse 
To  thoughts  of  peace  on  earth,  good-will  to  men. 

The  Old  World  and  the  New,  from  sea  to  sea, 
Utter  one  voice  of  sympathy  and  shame ! 

Sore  heart,  so  stopped  when  it  at  last  beat  high; 
Sad  life,  cut  short  just  as  its  triumph  came. 


156  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

A  deed  accurst!     Strokes  have  been  struck  before 
By  the  assassin's  hand,  whereof  men  doubt 

If  more  of  horror  or  disgrace  they  bore; 

But  thy  foul  crime,  like  Cain's,  stands  darkly  out. 

Vile  hand,  that  brandest  murder  on  a  strife, 

Whate'er  its  grounds,  stoutly  and  nobly 'striven; 

And  with  the  martyr's  crown  crownest  a  life 
With  much  to  praise,  little  to  be  forgiven. 


VI 
TRIBUTES 


THE  MARTYR  CHIEF1 
From  the  Harvard  Commemoration  Ode, 

BY   JAMES    RUSSEL    LOWELL 

Life  may  be  given  in  many  ways, 

And  loyalty  to  Truth  be  sealed 
As  bravely  in  the  closet  as  the  field, 

So  generous  is  Fate ; 

But  then  to  stand  beside  her, 

When  craven  churls  deride  her, 
To  front  a  lie  in  arms,  and  not  to  yield  — 

This  shows,  methinks,  God's  plan 

And  measure  of  a  stalwart  man, 
Limbed,  like  the  old  heroic  breeds, 

Who    stands    self-poised   on    manhood's    solid 
earth, 

Not  forced  to  frame  excuses  for  his  birth, 
Fed  from  within  with  all  the  strength  he  needs. 
Such  was  he,  our  Martyr  Chief, 

Whom  late  the  nation  he  had  led, 

With  ashes  on  her  head, 
Wept  with  the  passion  of  an  angry  grief : 
Forgive  me,  if  from  present  things  I  turn 
To  speak  what  in  my  heart  will  beat  and  burn, 
And  hang  my  wreath  on  his  world-honored  urn. 

Nature,  they  say,  doth  dote, 

And  cannot  make  a  man 
Save  on  some  worn-out  plan, 
Repeating  us  by  rote : 

1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifllin  &  Company. 
159 


160  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

For  him  her  Old- World  moulds  aside  she  threw, 
And,  choosing  sweet  clay  from  the  breast 
Of  the  unexhausted  West, 

With  stuff  untainted  shaped  a  hero  new, 

Wise,  steadfast  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  true. 
How  beautiful  to  see 

Once  more  a  shepherd  of  mankind  indeed, 

Who  loved  his  charge,  but  never  loved  to  lead  ; 

One  whose  meek  flock  the  people  joyed  to  be, 
Not  lured  by  any  cheat  of  birth, 
But  by  his  clear-grained  human  worth, 

And  brave  old  wisdom  of  sincerity ! 

They  knew  that  outward  grace  is  dust; 
They  could  not  choose  but  trust 

In  that  sure-footed  mind's  unfaltering  skill, 
And  supple-tempered  will 

That  bent  like  perfect  steel  to  spring  again  and 

thrust. 

His  was  no  lonely  mountain-peak  of  mind, 
Thrusting  to  thin  air  o'er  our  cloudy  bars, 
A  seamark  now,  now  lost  in  vapors  blind, 
Broad  prairie  rather,  genial,  level-lined, 
Fruitful  and  friendly  for  all  human  kind, 

Yet  also  nigh  to  heaven  and  loved  of  loftiest  stars. 
Nothing  of  Europe  here, 

Or,  then,  of  Europe  fronting  mornward  still, 

Ere  any  names  of  serf  and  peer 
Could  Nature's  equal  scheme  deface; 
Here  was  a  type  of  the  true  elder  race, 

And  one  of  Plutarch's  men  talked  with  us  face  to 
face. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  161 

I  praise  him  not ;  it  were  too  late ; 
And  some  innative  weakness  there  must  be 
In  him  who  condescends  to  victory 
Such  as  the  present  gives,  and  cannot  wait, 
Safe  in  himself  as  in  a  fate. 
So  always  firmly  he ; 
He  knew  to  bide  him  time, 
And  can  his  fame  abide, 
Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 
Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 

But  at  last  silence  comes: 
These  are  all  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil  the  first  American. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN1 

Remarks  at  the  funeral  services  held  in  Concord, 
April  19,   1865 

BY    RALPH    WALDO    EMERSON 

We  meet  under  the  gloom  of  a  calamity  which 
darkens  down  over  the  minds  of  good  men  in  all 
civil  society,  as  the  fearful  tidings  travel  over  sea, 

1  By  permission  of  H ought on,  Mifftin  &  Company. 


162  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

over  land,  from  country  to  country,  like  the  shadow 
of  an  uncalculated  eclipse  over  the  planet.  Old  as 
history  is,  and  manifold  as  are  its  tragedies,  I  doubt 
if  any  death  has  caused  so  much  pain  to  mankind 
as  this  has  caused,  or  will  cause,  on  its  announce 
ment;  and  this,  not  so  much  because  nations  are  by 
modern  arts  brought  so  closely  together,  as  because 
of  the  mysterious  hopes  and  fears  which,  in  the 
present  day,  are  connected  with  the  name  and  in 
stitutions  of  America. 

In  this  country,  on  Saturday,  every  one  was 
struck  dumb,  and  saw  at  first  only  deep  below  deep, 
as  he  meditated  on  the  ghastly  blow.  And  perhaps, 
at  this  hour,  when  the  coffin  which  contains  the 
dust  of  the  President  sets  forward  on  its  long 
march  through  mourning  States,  on  its  way  to 
his  home  in  Illinois,  we  might  well  be  silent  and 
suffer  the  awful  voices  of  the  time  to  thunder  to 
us.  Yes,  but  that  first  despair  was  brief :  the  man 
was  not  so  to  be  mourned.  He  was  the  most  active 
and  hopeful  of  men ;  and  his  work  has  not 
perished:  but  acclamations  of  praise  for  the  task 
he  has  accomplished  burst  out  into  a  song  of  tri 
umph,  which  even  tears  for  his  death  cannot  keep 
down. 

The  President  stood  before  us  as  a  man  of  the 
people.  He  was  thoroughly  American,  had  never 
crossed  the  sea,  had  never  been  spoiled  by  English 
insularity  or  French  dissipation ;  a  quiet  native,  ab 
original  man,  as  an  acorn  from  the  oak ;  no  aping 
of  foreigners,  no  frivolous  accomplishments,  Ken- 
tuckian  born,  working  on  a  farm,  a  flatboat-man,  a 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  163 

captain  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  a  country  lawyer, 
a  representative  in  the  rural  legislature  of  Illinois; 
—  on  such  modest  foundations  the  broad  structure 
of  his  fame  was  laid.  How  slowly,  and  yet  by 
happily  prepared  steps,  he  came  to  his  place.  All 
of  us  remember  —  it  is  only  a  history  of  five  or  six 
years  —  the  surprise  and  the  disappointment  of  the 
country  at  his  first  nomination  by  the  convention  at 
Chicago.  Mr.  Seward,  then  in  the  culmination  of 
his  good  fame,  was  the  favorite  of  the  Eastern 
States.  And  when  the  new  and  comparatively  un 
known  name  of  Lincoln  was  announced  (notwith 
standing  the  report  of  the  acclamations  of  that  con 
vention),  we  heard  the  result  coldly  and  sadly.  It 
seemed  too  rash,  on  a  purely  local  reputation,  to 
build  so  grave  a  trust  in  such  anxious  times ;  and 
men  naturally  talked  of  the  chances  in  politics  as  in 
calculable.  But  it  turned  out  not  to  be  chance. 
The  profound  good  opinion  which  the  people  of 
Illinois  and  of  the  West  had  conceived  of  him,  and 
which  they  had  imparted  to  their  colleagues,  that 
they  also  might  justify  themselves  to  their  constitu 
ents  at  home,  was  not  rash,  though  they  did  not  be 
gin  to  know  the  riches  of  his  worth. 

A  plain  man  of  the  people,  an  extraordinary  for 
tune  attended  him.  He  offered  no  shining  qualities 
at  the  first  encounter ;  he  did  not  offend  by  superi 
ority.  He  had  a  face  and  manner  which  disarmed 
suspicion,  which  inspired  confidence,  which  con 
firmed  good  will.  He  was  a  man  without  vices. 
He  had  a  strong  sense  of  duty,  which  it  was  very 
easy  for  him  to  obey.  Then  he  had  what  farmers 


164  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

call  a  long  head;  was  excellent  in  working  out  the 
sum  for  himself;  in  arguing  his  case  and  convinc 
ing  you  fairly  and  firmly.  Then  it  turned  out  that 
he  was  a  great  worker;  had  prodigious  faculty  of 
performance;  worked  easily.  A  good  worker  is 
so  rare;  everybody  has  some  disabling  quality.  In 
a  host  of  young  men  that  start  together  and  promise 
so  many  brilliant  leaders  for  the  next  age,  each 
fails  on  trial ;  one  by  bad  health,  one  by  conceit,  or 
by  love  of  pleasure,  or  lethargy,  or  an  ugly  temper, 
—  each  has  some  disqualifying  fault  that  throws 
him  out  of  the  career.  But  this  man  was  sound 
to  the  core,  cheerful,  persistent,  all  right  for  labor, 
and  liked  nothing  so  well. 

Then  he  had  a  vast  good  nature,  which  made  him 
tolerant  and  accessible  to  all;  fair  minded,  leaning 
to  the  claim  of  the  petitioner ;  affable,  and  not  sensi 
ble  to  the  affliction  which  the  innumerable  visits 
paid  to  him  when  President  would  have  brought 
to  any  one  else.  And  how  this  good  nature  be 
came  a  noble  humanity,  in  many  a  tragic  case  which 
the  events  of  the  war  brought  to  him,  every  one 
will  remember ;  and  with  what  increasing  tender 
ness  he  dealt  when  a  whole  race  was  thrown  on  his 
compassion.  The  poor  negro  said  of  him,  on  an 
impressive  occasion,  "  Massa  Linkum  am  ebery- 
where." 

Then  his  broad  good  humor,  running  easily  into 
jocular  talk,  in  which  he  delighted  and  in  which  he 
excelled,  was  a  rich  gift  to  this  wise  man.  It  en 
abled  him  to  keep  his  secret ;  to  meet  every  kind  of 
man  and  every  rank  in  society ;  to  take  off  the  edge 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  165 

of  the  severest  decisions ;  to  mask  his  own  purpose 
and  sound  his  companion;  and  to  catch  with  true 
instinct  the  temper  of  every  company  he  addressed. 
And,  more  than  all,  it  is  to  a  man  of  severe  labor, 
in  anxious  and  exhausting  crises,  the  natural  restor 
ative,  good  as  sleep,  and  is  the  protection  of  the 
overdriven  brain  against  rancor  and  insanity. 

He  is  the  author  of  a  multitude  of  good  sayings, 
so  disguised  as  pleasantries  that  it  is  certain  they 
had  no  reputation  at  first  but  as  jests;  and  only 
later,  by  the  very  acceptance  and  adoption  they  find 
in  the  mouths  of  millions,  turn  out  to  be  the  wis 
dom  of  the  hour.  I  am  sure  if  this  man  had  ruled 
in  a  period  of  less  facility  of  printing,  he  would 
have  become  mythological  in  a  very  few  years,  like 
y£sop  or  Pilpay,  or  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Mas 
ters,  by  his  fables  and  proverbs.  But  the  weight 
and  penetration  of  many  passages  in  his  letters, 
messages,  and  speeches,  hidden  now  by  the  very 
closeness  of  their  application  to  the  moment,  are 
destined  hereafter  to  wide  fame.  What  pregnant 
definitions ;  what  unerring  common  sense ;  what 
foresight ;  and,  on  great  occasion,  what  lofty,  and 
more  than  national,  what  humane  tone!  His  brief 
speech  at  Gettysburg  will  not  easily  be  surpassed 
by  words  on  any  recorded  occasion.  This,  and  one 
other  American  speech,  that  of  John  Brown  to  the 
court  that  tried  him,  and  a  part  of  Kossuth's  speech 
at  Birmingham,  can  only  be  compared  with  each 
other,  and  with  no  fourth. 

His  occupying  the  chair  of  State  was  a  triumph 
of  the  good  sense  of  mankind,  and  of  the  public 


166  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

conscience.  This  middle-class  country  had  got  a 
middle-class  President,  at  last.  Yes,  in  manners 
and  sympathies,  but  not  in  powers,  for  his  powers 
were  superior.  This  man  grew  according  to  the 
need.  His  mind  mastered  the  problem  of  the  day; 
and  as  the  problem  grew,  so  did  his  comprehension 
of  it.  Rarely  was  man  so  fitted  to  the  event.  In 
the  midst  of  fears  and  jealousies,  in  the  Babel  of 
counsels  and  parties,  this  man  wrought  incessantly 
with  all  his  might  and  all  his  honesty,  laboring  to 
find  what  the  people  wanted,  and  how  to  obtain 
that.  It  cannot  be  said  there  is  any  exaggeration 
of  his  worth.  If  ever  a  man  was  fairly  tested,  he 
was.  There  was  no  lack  of  resistance,  nor  of  slan- 
der?  nor  of  ridicule.  The  times  have  allowed  no 
state  secrets;  the  nation  has  been  in  such  ferment, 
such  multitudes  had  to  be  trusted,  that  no  secret 
could  be  kept.  Every  door  was  ajar,  and  we  know 
all  that  befell. 

Then,  what  an  occasion  was  the  whirlwind  of  the 
war.  Here  was  place  for  no  holiday  magistrate, 
no  fair-weather  sailor ;  the  new  pilot  was  hurried  to 
the  helm  in  a  tornado.  In  four  years, —  four  years 
of  battle-days, —  his  endurance,  his  fertility  of  re 
sources,  his  magnanimity,  were  sorely  tried  and 
never  found  wanting.  There,  by  his  courage,  his 
justice,  his  even  temper,  his  fertile  counsel,  his  hu 
manity,  he  stood  a  heroic  figure  in  the  centre  of  a 
heroic  epoch.  He  is  the  true  history  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  in  his  time.  Step  by  step  he  walked  be 
fore  them ;  slow  with  their  slowness,  quickening  his 
march  by  theirs,  the  true  representative  of  this  con- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  167 

tinent;  an  entirely  public  man;  father  of  his  coun 
try,  the  pulse  of  twenty-millions  throbbing  in  his 
heart,  the  thought  of  their  minds  articulated  by  his 
tongue. 

Adam  Smith  remarks  that  the  axe,  which  in 
Houbraken's  portraits  of  British  kings  and  worthies 
is  engraved  under  those  who  have  suffered  at  the 
block,  adds  a  certain  lofty  charm  to  the  picture. 
And  who  does  not  see,  even  in  this  tragedy  so  re 
cent,  how  fast  the  terror  and  ruin  of  the  massacre 
are  already  burning  into  glory  around  the  victim? 
Far  happier  this  fate  than  to  have  lived  to  be  wished 
away;  to  have  watched  the  decay  of  his  own  facul 
ties  ;  to  have  seen  —  perhaps  even  be  —  the  prover 
bial  ingratitude  of  statesmen;  to  have  seen  mean 
men  preferred.  Had  he  not  lived  long  enough  to 
keep  the  greatest  promise  that  ever  man  made  to  his 
fellow  men, —  the  practicable  abolition  of  slavery  ? 
He  had  seen  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  Maryland 
emancipate  their  slaves.  He  had  seen  Savannah, 
Charleston,  and  Richmond  surrendered;  had  seen 
the  main  army  of  the  rebellion  lay  down  its  arms. 
He  had  conquered  the  public  opinion  of  Canada, 
England,  and  France.  Only  Washington  can  com 
pare  with  him  in  fortune. 

And  what  if  it  should  turn  out,  in  the  unfolding 
of  the  web,  that  he  had  reached  the  term ;  that  this 
heroic  deliverer  could  no  longer  serve  us;  that  the 
rebellion  had  touched  its  natural  conclusion,  and 
what  remained  to  be  done  required  new  and  uncom 
mitted  hands, —  a  new  spirit  born  out  of  the  ashes 
of  the  war;  and  that  Heaven,  wishing  to  show  the 


168  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

world  a  completed  benefactor,  shall  make  him  serve 
his  country  even  more  by  his  death  than  by  his  life  ? 
Nations,  like  kings,  are  not  good  by  facility  and 
complaisance.  "  The  kindness  of  kings  consists  in 
justice  and  strength."  Easy  good  nature  has  been 
the  dangerous  foible  of  the  Republic,  and  it  was 
necessary  that  its  enemies  should  outrage  it,  and 
drive  us  to  unwonted  firmness,  to  secure  the  salva 
tion  of  this  country  in  the  next  ages. 

The  ancients  believed  in  a  serene  and  beautiful 
Genius  which  ruled  in  the  affairs  of  nations; 
which,  with  a  slow  but  stern  justice,  carried  for 
ward  the  fortunes  of  certain  chosen  houses, 
weeding  out  single  offenders  or  offending  fami 
lies,  and  securing  at  last  the  firm  prosperity  of 
the  favorites  of  Heaven.  It  was  too  narrow  a 
view  of  the  Eternal  Nemesis,  There  is  a  serene 
Providence  which  rules  the  fate  of  nations, 
which  makes  little  account  of  time,  little  of 
one  generation  or  race,  makes  no  acount  of  dis 
asters,  conquers  alike  by  what  is  called  defeat  or 
by  what  is  called  victory,  thrusts  aside  enemy  and 
obstruction,  crushes  everything  immoral  as  inhu 
man,  and  obtains  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  best 
race  by  the  sacrifice  of  everything  which  resists  the 
moral  laws  of  the  world.  It  makes  its  own  in 
struments,  creates  the  man  for  the  time,  trains  him 
in  poverty,  inspires  his  genuis,  and  arms  him  for 
his  task.  It  has  given  every  race  its  own  talent, 
and  ordains  that  only  that  race  which  combines 
perfectly  with  the  virtues  of  all  shall  endure. 


WASHINGTON  AND  LINCOLN       169 
WASHINGTON  AND  LINCOLN 

BY   WILLIAM    MCKINLEY 

The  greatest  names  in  American  history  are 
Washington  and  Lincoln.  One  is  forever  associ 
ated  with  the  independence  of  the  States  and  the 
formation  of  the  Federal  Union;  the  other  with 
universal  freedom  and  the  preservation  of  the 
Union. 

Washington  enforced  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  as  against  England.  Lincoln  proclaimed 
the  fulfilment  not  only  to  a  down-trodden  race  in 
America,  but  to  all  people  for  all  time  who  may 
seek  the  protection  of  our  flag.  These  illustrious 
men  achieved  grander  results  for  mankind  within 
a  single  century  than  any  other  men  ever  accom 
plished  in  all  the  years  since  the  first  flight  of 
time  began. 

Washington  drew  his  sword  not  for  a  change  of 
rulers  upon  an  established  throne,  but  to  estab 
lish  a  new  government  which  should  acknowledge 
no  throne  but  the  tribute  of  the  people. 

Lincoln  accepted  war  to  save  the  Union,  the  safe 
guard  of  our  liberties,  and  re-established  it  on  in 
destructible  foundations  as  forever  "  one  and  in 
divisible."  To  quote  his  own  words :  "  Now  we 
are  contending  that  this  nation  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 


170  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


LINCOLN 

BY   THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

Abraham  Lincoln  —  the  spirit  incarnate  of  those 
who  won  victory  in  the  Civil  War  —  was  the  true 
representative  of  this  people,  not  only  for  his  own 
generation,  but  for  all  time,  because  he  was  a  man 
among  men.  A  man  who  embodied  the  qualities  of 
his  fellow-men,  but  who  embodied  them  to  the 
highest  and  most  unusual  degree  of  perfection,  who 
embodied  all  that  there  was  in  the  nation  of  cour 
age,  of  wisdom,  of  gentle,  patient  kindliness,  and 
of  common  sense. 


LINCOLN'S  GRAVE 

BY    MAURICE  THOMPSON 

May  one  who  fought  in  honor  for  the  South 
Uncovered  stand  and  sing  by  Lincoln's  grave  ? 
Why,  if  I  shrunk  not  at  the  cannon's  mouth, 
Nor   swerved  one  inch   for  any  battle-wave, 
Should  I  now  tremble  in  this  quiet  close 
Hearing  the  prairie  wind  go  lightly  by 
From  billowy  plains  of  grass  and  miles  of  corn, 

While  out  of  deep  repose 
The  great  sweet  spirit  lifts  itself  on  high 
And  broods  above  our  land  this  summer  morn? 


LINCOLN'S  GRAVE  171 

Meseems   I   feel  his  presence.     Is  he  dead? 

Death  is  a  word.     He  lives  and  grander  grows. 

At  Gettysburg  he  bows  his  bleeding  head; 

He   spreads  his  arms  where   Chickamauga   flows, 

As  if  to  clasp  old  soldiers  to  his  breast, 

Of  South  or  North  no  matter  which  they  be, 

Not  thinking  of  what  uniform  they  wore, 

His  heart  a  palimpsest, 
Record  on  record  of  humanity, 
Where  love  is  first  and  last  forevermore. 

He  was  the  Southern  mother  leaning  forth, 

At  dead  of  night  to  hear  the  cannon  roar, 

Beseeching  God  to  turn  the  cruel  North 

And  break  it  that  her  son  might  come  once  more; 

He  was  New  England's  maiden  pale  and  pure, 

Whose  gallant  lover  fell  on  Shiloh's  plain; 

He  was  the  mangled  body  of  the  dead ; 

He  writhing  did  endure 

Wounds  and  disfigurement  and  racking  pain, 
Gangrene  and  amputation,  all  things  dread. 

He  was  the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  the  West, 

The  thrall,  the  master,  all  of  us  in  one ; 

There  was  no  section  that  he  held  the  best; 

His  love  shone  as  impartial  as  the  sun ; 

And  so  revenge  appealed  to  him  in  vain ; 

He  smiled  at  it,  as  at  a  thing  forlorn, 

And  gently  put  it  from  him,  rose  and  stood 

A  moment's  space  in  pain, 
Remembering  the  prairies  and  the  corn 
And  the  glad  voices  of  the  field  and  wood. 


172  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  then  when  Peace  set  wing  upon  the  wind 
And  northward  flying  fanned  the  clouds  away, 
He  passed  as  martyrs  pass.     Ah,  who  shall  find 
The  chord  to  sound  the  pathos  of  that  day ! 
Mid-April  blowing  sweet  across  the  land, 
New  bloom  of  freedom  opening  to  the  world, 
Loud  pasans  of  the  homeward-looking  host, 

The  salutations  grand 

From  grimy  guns,  the  tattered  flags  unfurled; 
And  he  must  sleep  to  all  the  glory  lost ! 

Sleep!  loss!     But  there  is  neither  sleep  nor  loss, 

And  all  the  glory  mantles  him  about; 

Above  his  breast  the  precious  banners  cross, 

Does  he  not  hear  his  armies  tramp  and  shout? 

Oh,  every  kiss  of  mother,  wife  or  maid 

Dashed  on  the  grizzly  lip  of  veteran, 

Comes  forthright  to  that  calm  and  quiet  mouth. 

And  will  not  be  delayed, 
And  every  slave,  no  longer  slave  but  man, 
Sends  up  a  blessing  from  the  broken  South. 

He  is  not  dead,  France  knows  he  is  not  dead ; 
He  stirs  strong  hearts  in  Spain  and  Germany, 
In  far  Siberian  mines  his  words  are  said, 
He  tells  the  English  Ireland  shall  be  free, 
He  calls  poor  serfs  about  him  in  the  night, 
And  whispers  of  a  power  that  laughs  at  kings, 
And  of  a  force  that  breaks  the  strongest  chain; 

Old  tyranny  feels  his  might 
Tearing  away  its  deepest  fastenings, 
And  jewelled  sceptres  threaten  him  in  vain. 


TRIBUTES  173 

Years  pass  away,  but  freedom  does  not  pass, 
Thrones   crumble,   but   man's   birthright   crumbles 

not, 

And,  like  the  wind  across  the  prairie  grass, 
A  whole  world's  aspirations  fan  this  spot 
With    ceaseless    panting   after    liberty, 
One  breath  of  which  would  make  dark  Russia  fair, 
And  blow  sweet  summer  through  the  exile's  cave 

And  set  the  exile  free ; 
For  which  I  pray,  here  in  the  open  air 
Of  Freedom's  morning-tide,  by  Lincoln's  grave. 


TRIBUTES  TO  LINCOLN 

A  man  of  great  ability,  pure  patriotism,  un 
selfish  nature,  full  of  forgiveness  to  his  enemies, 
bearing  malice  toward  none,  he  proved  to  be  the 
man  above  all  others  for  the  struggle  through 
which  the  nation  had  to  pass  to  place  itself  among 
the  greatest  in  the  family  of  nations.  His  fame 
will  grow  brighter  as  time  passes  and  his  great 
great  work  is  better  understood. 

U.  S.  Grant. 


At  the  moment  when  the  stars  of  the  Union, 
sparkling  and  resplendent  with  the  golden  fires  of 
liberty,  are  waving  over  the  subdued  walls  of 
Richmond  the  sepulchre  opens,  and  the  strong,  the 
powerful  enters  it. 

Sr.  Rebello  Da  Silva. 


174  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

He  ascended  the  mount  where  he  could  see  the 
fair  fields  and  the  smiling  vineyards  of  the  promised 
land.  But,  like  the  great  leader  of  Israel,  he  was 
not  permitted  to  come  to  the  possession. 

Seth  Sweet ser. 


In  his  freedom  from  passion  and  bitterness;  in 
his  acute  sense  of  justice;  in  his  courageous  faith 
in  the  right,  and  his  inextinguishable  hatred  of 
wrong;  in  his  warm  and  heartfelt  sympathy  and 
mercy;  in  his  coolness  of  judgment;  in  his  un 
questioned  rectitude  of  intention  —  in  a  word,  in  his 
ability  to  lift  himself  for  his  country's  sake  above 
all  mere  partisanship,  in  all  the  marked  traits  of 
his  character  combined,  he  has  had  no  parallel  since 
Washington,  and  while  our  republic  endures  he  will 
live  with  him  in  the  grateful  hearts  of  his  grateful 
countrymen. 

Schuyler  Cotfax. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

BY    HENRY    HOWARD    BROWNELL 

Dead  is  the  roll  of  the  drums, 
And  the  distant  thunders  die, 
They  fade  in  the  far-ofT  sky; 

And  a  lovely  summer  comes, 
Like  the  smile  of  Him  on  high. 

Lulled,  the  storm  and  the  onset. 
Earth  lies  in  a  sunny  swoon ; 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  175 

Stiller  splendor  of  noon, 
Softer  glory  of  sunset, 

Milder  starlight  and  moon! 

For  the  kindly  Seasons  love  us; 

They  smile  over  trench  and  clod 
(Where  we  left  the  bravest  of  us)  — 

There's  a  brighter  green  of  the  sod, 
And  a  holier  calm  above  us 

In  the  blessed  Blue  of  God. 

The  roar  and  ravage  were  vain; 

And  Nature,  that  never  yields, 
Is  busy  with  sun  and  rain 
At  her  old  sweet  work  again 

On  the  lonely  battle-fields. 

How  the  tall  white  daisies  grow, 

Where  the  grim  artillery  rolled! 
(Was  it  only  a  moon  ago? 

It  seems  a  century  old)  — 

And  the  bee  hums  in  the  clover, 

As  the  pleasant  June  comes  on ; 
Aye,  the  wars  are  all  over,  — 

But  our  good  Father  is  gone. 

There  was  tumbling  of  traitor  fort, 

Flaming  of  traitor  fleet  — 
Lighting  of  city  and  port, 

Clasping  in  square  and  street. 


176  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

There  was  thunder  of  mine  and  gun, 

Cheering  by  mast  and  tent, — 
When  —  his  dread  work  all  done, 
And  his  high  fame  full  won — • 
Died  the  Good  President. 

In  his  quiet  chair  he  sate, 

Pure  of  malice  or  guile, 
Stainless  of  fear  or  hate, — 

And  there  played  a  pleasant  smile 
On  the  rough  and  careworn  face; 

For  his  heart  was  all  the  while 
On  means  of  mercy  and  grace. 

The  brave  old  Flag  drooped  o'er  him, 
(A  fold  in  the  hard  hand  lay)  — 
He  looked,  perchance,  on  the  play  — 

But  the  scene  was  a  shadow  before  him, 
For  his  thoughts  were  far  away. 

'Twas  but  the  morri  (yon  fearful 
Death-shade,  gloomy  and  vast, 
Lifting  slowly  at  last), 
His  household  heard  him  say, 
"  'Tis  long  since  I've  been  so  cheerful, 
So  light  of  heart  as  to-day." 

Twas  dying,  the  long  dread  clang  — 
But,  or  ever  the  blessed  ray 
Of  peace  could  brighten  to-day, 
Murder  stood  by  the  way  — 

Treason  struck  home  his  fang! 

One  throb  —  and,  without  a  pang, 
That  pure  soul  passed  away. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  177 

Kindly  Spirit !  —  Ah,  when  did  treason 
Bid  such  a  generous  nature  cease, 

Mild  by  temper  and  strong  by  reason, 
But  ever  leaning  to  love  and  peace? 

A  head  how  sober ;  a  heart  how  spacious ; 

A  manner  equal  with  high  or  low ; 
Rough  but  gentle,  uncouth  but  gracious, 

And  still  inclining  to  lips  of  woe. 

Patient  when  saddest,  calm  when  sternest, 
Grieved  when  rigid  for  justice'  sake; 

Given  to  jest,  yet  ever  in  earnest 

If  aught  of  right  or  truth  were  at  stake. 

Simple  of  heart,  yet  shrewd  therewith, 
Slow  to  resolve,  but  firm  to  hold; 

Still  with  parable  and  with  myth 
Seasoning  truth,  like  Them  of  old; 

Aptest  humor  and  quaintest  pith ! 

(Still  we  smile  o'er  the  tales  he  told.) 

Yet  whoso  might  pierce  the  guise 

Of  mirth  in  the  man  we  mourn, 
Would  mark,  and  with  grieved  surprise, 

All  the  great  soul  had  borne, 
In  the  piteous  lines,  and  the  kind,  sad  eyes 

So  dreadfully  wearied  and  worn. 

And  we  trusted  (the  last  dread  page 

Once    turned,    of   our    Dooms-day    Scroll), 
To  have  seen  him,  sunny  of  soul, 

In  a  cheery,  grand  old  age. 


178  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

But,  Father,  'tis  well  with  thee! 

And  since  ever,  when  God  draws  nigh, 
Some  grief  for  the  good  must  be, 

'Twas  well,  even  so  to  die, — 

'Mid  the  thunder  of  Treason's  fall, 
The  yielding  of  haughty  town, 

The  crashing  of  cruel  wall, 

The  trembling  of  tyrant  crown! 

The  ringing  of  hearth  and  pavement 
To  the  clash  of  falling  chains, — 

The  centuries  of  enslavement 

Dead,  with  their  blood-bought  gains ! 

And  through  trouble  weary  and  long, 
Well  hadst  thou  seen  the  way, 

Leaving  the  State  so  strong 
It  did  not  reel  for  a  day. 

And  even  in  death  couldst  give 
A  token  for  Freedom's  strife  — 

A  proof  how  republics  live, 
And  not  by  a  single  life, 

But  the  Right  Divine  of  man, 

And  the  many,  trained  to  be  free, — 

And  none,  since  the  world  began, 
Ever  was  mourned  like  thee. 

Dost  thou  feel  it,  O  noble  Heart! 

(So  grieved  and  so  wronged  below), 
From  the  rest  wherein  thou  art? 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  179 

Do  they  see  it,  those  patient  eyes? 
Is  there  heed  in  the  happy  skies 
For  tokens  of  world-wide  woe? 

The  Land's  great  lamentations, 
The  mighty  mourning  of  cannon 

The  myriad  flags  half-mast  — 
The  late  remorse  of  the  nations, 
Grief  from  Volga  to  Shannon! 
(Now  they  know  thee  at  last.) 

How,  from  gray  Niagara's  shore 

To  Canaveral's  surfy  shoal  — 
From  the  rough  Atlantic  roar 

To  the  long  Pacific  roll  — 

For  bereavement  and  for  dole, 
Every  cottage  wears  its  weed, 

White  as  thine  own  pure  soul, 
And  black  as  the  traitor  deed. 

How,  under  a  nation's  pall, 
The  dust  so  dear  in  our  sight 

To  its  home  on  the  prairie  passed, — 
The  leagues  of  funeral, 

The  myriads,  morn  and  night, 
Pressing  to  look  their  last. 

Nor  alone  the  State's  Eclipse; 

But  tears  in  hard  eyes  gather — » 
And  on  rough  and  bearded  lips, 
Of  the  regiments  and  the  ships  — 

"  Oh,  our  dear  Father !  " 


180  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  methinks  of  all  the  million 

That  looked  on  the  dark  dead  face, 
'Neath  its  sable-plumed  pavilion, 

The  crone  of  a  humbler  race 
Is  saddest  of  all  to  think  on, 

And  the  old  swart  lips  that  said, 
Sobbing,  "  Abraham  Lincoln ! 

Oh,  he  is  dead,  he  is  dead ! " 

Hush!  let  our  heavy  souls 

To-day  be  glad;  for  again 
The  stormy  music  swells  and  rolls, 

Stirring  the  hearts  of  men. 

And  under  the  Nation's  Dome, 

They've  guarded  so  well  and  long, 

Our  boys  come  marching  home, 
Two  hundred  thousand  strong. 

All  in  the  pleasant  month  of  May, 
With  war-worn  colors  and  drums, 

Still  through  the  livelong  summer's  day, 
Regiment,   regiment  comes. 

Like  the  tide,  yesty  and  barmy, 
That  sets  on  a  wild  lee-shore, 

Surge  the  ranks  of  an  army 
Never  reviewed  before! 

Who  shall  look  on  the  like  again, 
Or  see  such  host  of  the  brave? 

A  mighty  River  of  marching  men 
Rolls  the  Capital  through  — 

Rank  on  rank,  and  wave  on  wave, 
Of  bayonet-crested  blue! 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  181 

How  the  chargers  neigh  and  champ, 
(Their  riders  weary  of  camp), 

With  curvet  and  with  caracole !  — 
The  cavalry  comes  with  thunderous  tramp, 

And  the  cannons  heavily  roll. 

And  ever,  flowery  and  gay, 
The  Staff  sweeps  on  in  a  spray 

Of  tossing  forelocks  and  manes ; 
But  each  bridle-arm  has  a  weed 
Of  funeral,  black  as  the  steed 

That  fiery  Sheridan  reins. 

Grandest  of  mortal  sights 

The  sun-browned  ranks  to  view  — 

The  Colors  ragg'd  in  a  hundred  fights, 
And  the  dusty  Frocks  of  Blue ! 

And  all  day,  mile  on  mile, 

With  cheer,  and  waving,  and  smile, 

The  war-worn  legions  defile 

Where  the  nation's  noblest  stand; 
And  the  Great  Lieutenant  looks  on, 

With  the  Flower  of  a  rescued  Land, — 
For  the  terrible  work  is  done, 
And  the  Good  Fight  is  won 

For  God  and  for  Fatherland. 

So,  from  the  fields  they  win, 

Our  men  are  marching  home, 

A  million  are  marching  home! 
To  the  cannon's  thundering  din, 


182  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  banners  on  mast  and  dome, — 
And  the  ships  come  sailing  in 
With  all  their  ensigns  dight, 
As  erst  for  a  great  sea-fight. 

Let  every  color  fly, 

Every  pennon  flaunt  in  pride; 
Wave,  Starry  Flag,  on  high! 
Float  in  the  sunny  sky, 

Stream  o'er  the  stormy  tide! 
For  every  stripe  of  stainless  hue, 
And  every  star  in  the  field  of  blue, 
Ten  thousand  of  the  brave  and  true 

Have  laid  them  down  and  died. 

And  in  all  our  pride  to-day 
We  think,  with  a  tender  pain, 

Of  those  so  far  away 

They  will  not  come  home  again. 

And  our  boys  had  fondly  thought, 

To-day,  in  marching  by, 
From  the  ground  so  dearly  bought, 
And  the  fields  so  bravely  fought, 
To  have  met  their  Father's  eye. 

But  they  may  not  see  him  in  place, 
Nor  their  ranks  be  seen  of  him ; 

We  look  for  the  well-known  face, 
And  the  splendor  is  strangely  dim. 

Perish  ?  —  who  was  it  said 

Our  Leader  had  passed  away? 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  183 

Dead?     Our   President   dead? 
He  has  not  died  for  a  day ! 

We  mourn  for  a  little  breath 

Such  as,  late  or  soon,  dust  yields; 

But  the  Dark  Flower  of  Death 
Blooms   in  the   fadeless   fields. 

We  looked  on  a  cold,  still  brow, 

But  Lincoln  could  yet  survive; 

He  never  was  more  alive, 
Never  nearer  than  now. 

For  the  pleasant  season  found  him, 
Guarded  by  faithful  hands, 
In  the  fairest  of  Summer  Lands; 

With  his  own  brave  Staff  around  him, 
There  our  President  stands. 

There  they  are  all  at  his  side, 

The  noble  hearts  and  true, 

That  did  all  men  might  do  — 
Then  slept,  with  their  swords  and  died. 

And  around — (for  there  can  cease 
This  earthly  trouble) — they  throng, 

The  friends  that  have  passed  in  peace, 
The  foes  that  have  seen  their  wrong. 

(But,  a  little  from  the  rest, 
With  sad  eyes  looking  down, 
And  brows  of  softened  frown, 


184  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

With  stern  arms  on  the  chest, 
Are  two,  standing  abreast  — 

Stonewall  and  Old  John  Brown.) 

But  the  stainless  and  the  true, 
These  by  their  President  stand, 

To  look  on  his  last  review, 

Or  march  with  the  old  command. 

r 

And  lo!  from  a  thousand  fields, 
From  all  the  old  battle-haunts, 

A  greater  Army  than  Sherman  wields, 
A  grander  Review  than  Grant's! 

Gathered  home  from  the  grave, 
Risen  from  sun  and  rain  — 

Rescued  from  wind  and  wave 
Out  of  the  stormy  main  — 

The  Legions  of  our  Brave 
Are  all  in  their  lines  again ! 

Many  a  stout  Corps  that  went, 
Full-ranked,  from  camp  and  tent, 

And  brought  back  a  brigade; 
Many  a  brave  regiment, 

That  mustered  only  a  squad. 

The  lost  battalions, 

That,  when  the  fight  went  wrong, 
Stood  and  died  at  their  guns, — 

The  stormers  steady  and  strong, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  185 

With  their  best  blood  that  bought 

Scrap,  and  ravelin,  and  wall, — 
The  companies  that  fought 

Till  a  corporal's  guard  was  all. 

Many  a  valiant  crew, 

That  passed  in  battle  and  wreck, — 
Ah,  so  faithful  and  true! 

They  died  on  the  bloody  deck, 
They  sank  in  the  soundless  blue. 

All  the  loyal  and  bold 

That  lay  on  a  soldier's  bier, — 
The  stretchers  borne  to  the  rear, 

The  hammocks  lowered  to  the  hold. 

The  shattered  wreck  we  hurried, 

In  death-fight,  from   deck  and  port, — 

The  Blacks  that  Wagner  buried. — 
That  died  in  the  Bloody  Fort! 

Comrades  of  camp  and  mess, 

Left,  as  they  lay,  to  die, 
In  the  battle's  sorest  stress, 

When  the  storm  of  fight  swept  by, — 
They  lay  in  the  Wilderness, 

Ah,  where  did  they  not  lie? 

In  the  tangled  swamp  they  lay, 
They  lay  so  still  on  the  sward !  — 

They  rolled  in  the  sick-bay, 

Moaning  their  lives  away  — 

They  flushed  in  the  fevered  ward. 


186  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

They  rotted  in  Libby  yonder, 

They  starved  in  the  foul  stockade  — 

Hearing  afar  the  thunder 
Of  the  Union  cannonade! 

But  the  old  wounds  all  are  healed, 
And  the  dungeoned  limbs  are  free,- 

The  Blue  Frocks  rise  from  the  field, 
The  Blue  Jackets  out  of  the  sea. 

They've  'scaped  from  the  torture-den, 

They've  broken  the  bloody  sod, 
They're  all  come  to  life  again !  - — 
The  Third  of  a  Million  men 
That  died  for  Thee  and  for  God ! 

A  tenderer  green  than  May 
The  Eternal  Season  wears, — 

The  blue  of  our  summer's  day 
Is  dim  and  pallid  to  theirs, — 

The  Horror  faded  away, 

And  'twas  heaven  all  unawares ! 

Tents  on  the  Infinite  Shore! 

Flags  in  the  azuline  sky, 
Sails  on  the  seas  once  more! 

To-day,  in  the  heaven  on  high, 
All  under  arms  once  more! 

The  troops  are  all  in  their  lines, 
The  guidons  flutter  and  play ; 

But  every  bayonet  shines, 
For  all  must  march  to-day. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  187 

What  lofty  pennons  flaunt? 
What  mighty  echoes  haunt, 

As  of  great  guns,  o'er  the  main? 

Hark  to  the  sound  again  — 
The  Congress  is  all  a-taunt! 

The  Cumberland's  manned  again ! 

All  the  ships  and  their  men 

Are  in  line  of  battle  to-day, — 
All  at  quarters,  as  when 

Their  last   roll  thundered  away, — 
All  at  their  guns,  as  then, 

For  the  Fleet  salutes  to-day. 

The  armies  have  broken  camp 

On  the  vast  and  sunny  plain, 

The  drums  are  rolling  again; 
With  steady,  measured  tramp, 

They're   marching  all   again. 

With  alignment  firm  and  solemn, 

Once  again  they  form 
In  mighty  square  and  column, — 

But  never  for  charge  and  storm. 

The  Old  Flag  they  died  under 

Floats  above  them  on  the  shore, 
And  on  the  great  ships  yonder 

The  ensigns  dip  once  more  — 
And  once  again  the  thunder 

Of  the  thirty  guns  and  four! 


1 88  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  solid  platoons  of  steel, 
Under  heaven's  triumphal  arch, 

The  long  lines  break  and  wheel  - 

And  fhe  word  is,  "  Forward,  march !  " 

The  Colors  ripple  o'erhead, 
The  drums  roll  up  to  the  sky, 

And  with  martial  time  and  tread 
The  regiments  all  pass  by  — 

The  ranks  of  our  faithful  Dead, 
Meeting  their  President's  eye. 

With  a  soldier's  quiet  pride 

They  smile  o'er  the  perished  pain, 
For  their  anguish  was  not  vain  — 

For  thee,  O  Father,  we  died ! 
And  we  did  not  die  in  vain. 

March  on,  your  last  brave  mile! 

Salute  him,  Star  and  Lace, 
Form  round  him,  rank  and  file, 

And  look  on  the  kind,  rough  face ; 

But  the  quaint  and  homely  smile 

Has  a  glory  and  a  grace 
It  never  had  known  erewhile  — 

Never,  in  time  and  space. 

Close  round  him,  hearts  of  pride! 
Press  near  him,  side  by  side, — 

Our  Father  is  not  alone ! 
For  the  Holy  Right  ye  died, 
And  Christ,  the  Crucified, 

Waits  to  welcome  His  own. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  189 


TRIBUTES 

A  statesman  of  the  school  of  sound  common 
sense,  and  a  philanthropist  of  the  most  practical 
type,  a  patriot  without  a  superior  —  his  monument 
is  a  country  preserved. 

C.  S.  Harrington. 

Now  all  men  begin  to  see  that  the  plain  people, 
who  at  last  came  to  love  him  and  to  lean  upon  his 
wisdom,  and  trust  him  absolutely,  were  altogether 
right,  and  that  in  deed  and  purpose  he  was  earn 
estly  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country, 
and  of  all  its  inhabitants. 

R.  B.  Hayes. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

BY  JOEL  BENTON 

Some  opulent  force  of  genius,  soul,  and  race, 
Some  deep  life-current  from  far  centuries 
Flowed  to  his  mind,  and  lighted  his  sad  eyes, 

And  gave  his  name,  among  great  names,  high  place. 

But  these  are  miracles  we  may  not  trace  — 
Nor  say  why  from  a  source  and  lineage  mean 
He  rose  to  grandeur  never  dreamt  or  seen, 

Or  told  on  the  long  scroll  of  history's  space. 
1  By  permission  of  the  author. 


190  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

The  tragic  fate  of  one  broad  hemisphere 
Fell  on  stern  days  to  his  supreme  control, 

All  that  the  world  and  liberty  held  dear 

Pressed  like  a  nightmare  on  his  patient  soul. 

Martyr  beloved,  on  whom,  when  life  was  done, 

Fame  looked,  and  saw  another  Washington! 


ON  THE  LIFE-MASK  OF  ABRAHAM  LIN 
COLN1 

BY  RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER 

This  bronze  doth  keep  the  very  form  and  mold 
Of  our  great  martyr's  face.  Yes,  this  is  he: 
That  brow  all  wisdom,  all  benignity; 

That  human,  humorous  mouth;  those  cheeks  that 
hold 

Like  some  harsh  landscape  all  the  summer's  gold; 
That  spirit  fit  for  sorrow,  as  the  sea 
For  storms  to  beat  on ;  the  lone  agony 

Those  silent,  patient  lips  too  well  foretold. 

Yes,  this  is  he  who  ruled  a  world  of  men 
As  might  some  prophet  of  the  elder  day  — 
Brooding  above  the  tempest  and  the  fray 

With  deep-eyed  thought  and  more  than  mortal  ken. 
A  power  was  his  beyond  the  touch  of  art 
Or  armed  strength  —  his  pure  and  mighty  heart. 

1  By  permission  of  Houghton,  MUHin  &  Company. 


TRIBUTES  191 


TRIBUTES 

To  him  belongs  the  credit  of  having  worked  his 
way  up  from  the  humblest  position  an  American 
freeman  can  occupy  to  the  highest  and  most  power 
ful,  without  losing,  in  the  least,  the  simplicity  and 
sincerity  of  nature  which  endeared  him  alike  to  the 
plantation  slave  and  the  metropolitan  millionaire. 

The  most  malignant  party  opposition  has  never 
been  able  to  call  in  question  the  patriotism  of  his 
motives,  or  tarnish  with  the  breath  of  suspicion  the 
brightness  of  his  spotless  fidelity.  Ambition  did 
not  warp,  power  corrupt,  nor  glory  dazzle  him. 

Warren  H.  Cudworth. 


By  his  steady,  enduring  confidence  in  God,  and 
in  the  complete  ultimate  success  of  the  cause  of 
God  which  is  the  cause  of  humanity,  more  than  in 
any  other  way  does  he  now  speak  to  us,  and  to  the 
nation  he  loved  and  served  so  well. 

P.  D.  Gurley. 


Chieftain,  farewell !  The  nation  mourns  thee. 
Mothers  shall  teach  thy  name  to  their  lisping  chil 
dren.  The  youth  of  our  land  shall  emulate  thy 
virtues.  Statesmen  shall  study  thy  record,  and 
learn  lessons  of  wisdom.  Mute  though  thy  lips 
be,  yet  they  still  speak.  Hushed  is  thy  voice,  but 


192  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

its  echoes  of  liberty  are  ringing  through  the  world, 
and  the  sons  of  bondage  listen  with  joy. 

Matthew  Simpson. 


LINCOLN 

BY   GEORGE    HENRY   BOKER. 

Crown  we  our  heroes  with  a  holier  wreath 
Than  man  e'er  wore  upon  this  side  of  death ; 
Mix  with  their  laurels  deathless  asphodels, 
And  chime  their  paeans  from  the  sacred  bells ! 
Nor  in  your  prayers  forget  the  martyred  Chief, 
Fallen  for  the  gospel  of  your  own  belief, 
Who,  ere  he  mounted  to  the  people's  throne, 
Asked  for  your  prayers,  and  joined  in  them  his  own. 
I  knew  the  man.     I  see  him,  as  he  stands 
With  gifts  of  mercy  in  his  outstretched  hands; 
A  kindly  light  within  his  gentle  eyes, 
Sad  as  the  toil  in  which  his  heart  grew  wise ; 
His  lips  half-parted  with  the  constant  smile 
That  kindled  truth,  but  foiled  the  deepest  guile; 
His  head  bent  forward,  and  his  willing  ear 
Divinely  patient  right  and  wrong  to  hear: 
Great  in  his  goodness,  humble  in  his  state, 
Firm  in  his  purpose,  yet  not  passionate, 
He  led  his  people  with  a  tender  hand, 
And  won  by  love  a  sway  beyond  command, 
Summoned  by  lot  to  mitigate  a  time 
Frenzied  with  rage,  unscrupulous  with  crime, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  193 

He  bore  his  mission  with  so  meek  a  heart 
That  Heaven  itself  took  up  his  people's  part ; 
And  when  he  faltered,  helped  him  ere  he  fell, 
Eking  his  efforts  out  by  miracle. 
No  king  this  man,  by  grace  of  God's  intent; 
No,   something  better,  freeman, —  President ! 
A  nature,  modeled  on  a  higher  plan, 
Lord  of  himself,  an  inborn  gentleman ! 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

JAMES    A.    GARFIELD 

In  the  great  drama  of  the  rebellion  there  were 
two  acts.  The  first  was  the  war,  with  its  battles 
and  sieges,  its  victories  and  defeats,  its  sufferings 
and  tears.  Just  as  the  curtain  was  lifting  on  the 
second  and  final  act,  the  restoration  of  peace  and 
liberty,  the  evil  spirit  of  the  rebellion,  in  the  fury 
of  despair,  nerved  and  directed  the  hand  of  an 
assassin  to  strike  down  the  chief  character  in  both. 
It  was  no  one  man  who  killed  Abraham  Lincoln ; 
it  was  the  embodied  spirit  of  treason  and  slavery, 
inspired  with  fearful  and  despairing  hate,  that 
struck  him  down  in  the  moment  of  the  nation's  su- 
premest  joy. 

Sir,  there  are  times  in  the  history  of  men  and  na 
tions  when  they  stand  so  near  the  veil  that  sepa 
rates  mortals  from  the  immortals,  time  from  eter 
nity,  and  men  from  God  that  they  can  almost  hear 


194  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  beatings  and  pulsations  of  the  heart  of  the 
Infinite.  Through  such  a  time  has  this  nation 
passed. 

When  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  brave 
spirits  passed  from  the  field  of  honor,  through  that 
thin  veil,  to  the  presence  of  God,  and  when  at  last 
its  parting  folds  admitted  the  martyr  President  to 
the  company  of  those  dead  heroes  of  the  Republic, 
the  nation  stood  so  near  the  veil  that  the  whispers 
of  God  were  heard  by  the  children  of  men.  Awe- 
stricken  by  his  voice,  the  American  people  knelt  in 
tearful  reverence  and  made  a  solemn  covenant  with 
him  and  with  each  other  that  this  nation  should  be 
saved  from  its  enemies,  that  all  its  glories  should  be 
restored,  and,  on  the  ruins  of  slavery  and  treason, 
the  temples  of  freedom  and  justice  should  be  built, 
and  should  survive  forever. 

It  remains  for  us,  consecrated  by  that  great  event 
and  under  a  covenant  with  God,  to  keep  that  faith, 
to  go  forward  in  the  great  work  until  it  shall  be 
completed.  Following  the  lead  of  that  great  man, 
and  obeying  the  high  behests  of  God,  let  us  re 
member  that: 

He  has  sounded  forth  the  trumpet  that  shall  never 
call  retreat; 

He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his  judg 
ment  seat; 

Oh,  be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him !  be    jubilant, 

my  feet ! 
Our  God  is  marching  on. 


AN  HORATIAN  ODE  195 

AN  HORATIAN  ODE1 

BY    RICHARD    HENRY    STODDARD 

Not  as  when  some  great  captain  falls 
In  battle,  where  his  country  calls, 
Beyond  the  struggling  lines 
That  push  his  dread  designs 

To  doom,  by  some  stray  ball  struck  dead : 
Or  in  the  last  charge,  at  the  head 

Of  his  determined  men, 

Who  must  be  victors  then! 

Nor  as  when  sink  the  civic  great, 

The  safer  pillars  of  the  State, 

Whose  calm,  mature,  wise  words 
Suppress  the  need  of  swords !  — 

With  no  such  tears  as  e'er  were  shed 
Above  the  noblest  of  our  dead 

Do  we  to-day  deplore 

The  man  that  is  no  more ! 

Our  sorrow  hath  a  wider  scope, 
Too  strange  for  fear,  too  vast  for  hope, — 
A  wonder,  blind  and  dumb, 
That  waits  —  what  is  to  come ! 

Not  more  astonished  had  we  been 
If  madness,  that  dark  night,  unseen, 
Had  in  our  chambers  crept, 
And  murdered  while  we  slept! 

1  By  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


196  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

We  woke  to  find  a  mourning  earth  — 
Our  Lares  shivered  on  the  hearth, — 
To  roof-tree  fallen, —  all 
That  could  affright,  appall! 

Such  thunderbolts,  in  other  lands, 
Have  smitten  the  rod  from  royal  hands, 
But  spared,  with  us,  till  now, 
Each  laurelled  Caesar's  brow ! 

No  Caesar  he,  whom  we  lament, 

A  man  without  a  precedent, 
Sent  it  would  seem,  to  do 
His  work  —  and  perish  too  ! 

Not  by  the  weary  cares  of  state, 
The  endless  tasks,  which  will  not  wait, 

Which,  often  done  in  vain, 

Must  yet  be  done  again : 

Not  in  the  dark,  wild  tide  of  war, 
Which  rose  so  high,  and  rolled  so  far, 

Sweeping  from  sea  to  sea 

In  awful  anarchy :  — 

Four  fateful  years  of  mortal  strife, 
Which  slowly  drained  the  nation's  life, 
(Yet,  for  each  drop  that  ran 
There  sprang  an  armed  man!) 

Not  then; — but  when  by  measures  meet,- 

By  victory,  and  by  defeat, — 
By  courage,  patience,  skill, 
The  people's  fixed  "We  will!" 


AN  HORATIAN  ODE  197 

Had  pierced,  had  crushed  rebellion  dead, — 
Without  a  hand,  without  a  head :  — 

At  last,  when  all  was  well, 

He  fell  —  O,  how  he  fell ! 

The  time, —  the  place, —  the  stealing  shape, — 
The  coward  shot, —  the  swift  escape, — 

The  wife, —  the  widow's  scream, — 

It  is  a  hideous  dream ! 

A  dream? — what  means  this  pageant,  then? 
These  multitudes  of  solemn  men, 

Who  speak  not  when  they  meet, 

But  throng  the  silent  street? 

The  flags  half-mast,  that  late  so  high 
Flaunted  at  each  new  victory? 

(The  stars  no  brightness  shed, 

But  bloody  looks  the  red!) 

The  black  festoons  that  stretch  for  miles, 
And  turn  the  streets  to  funeral  aisles  ? 
(No  house  too  poor  to  show 
The  nation's  badge  of  woe!) 

The  cannon's  sudden,  sullen  boom, — 
The  bells  that  toll  of  death  and  doom, — 
The  rolling  of  the  drums, — 
The  dreadful  car  that  comes? 

Cursed  be  the  hand  that  fired  the  shot ! 

The  frenzied  brain  that  hatched  the  plot! 
Thy  country's  father  slain 
By  thee,  thou  worse  than  Cain ! 


198  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Tyrants  have  fallen  by  such  as  thou, 
And  good  hath  followed  —  may  it  now! 
(God  lets  bad  instruments 
Produce  the  best  events.) 

But  he,  the  man  we  mourn  to-day, 
No  tyrant  was :  so  mild  a  sway 
In  one  such  weight  who  bore 
Was  never   known  before! 

Cool  should  be  he,  of  balanced  powers. 

The  ruler  of  a  race  like  ours, 

Impatient,    headstrong,    wild, — 
The  man  to  guide  the  child ! 

And  this  he  was,  who  most  unfit 
(So  hard  the  sense  of  God  to  hit!) 

Did  seem  to  fill  his  place. 

With  such  a  homely  face, — 

Such  rustic  manners, —  speech  uncouth, — 
(That  somehow  blundered  out  the  truth!) 
Untried,  untrained  to  bear 
The  more  than  kingly  care! 

Ay !     And  his  genius  put  to  scorn 
The  proudest  in  the  purple  born, 
Whose  wisdom  never  grew 
To  what,  untaught,  he  knew  — 

The  people,  of  whom  he  was  one. 

No   gentleman   like   Washington, — 

(Whose  bones,  methinks,  make  room, 
To  have  him  in  their  tomb!) 


AN  HORATIAN  ODE  199 

A  laboring  man,  with  horny  hands, 
Who  swung  the  axe,  who  tilled  his  lands, 

Who  shrank  from  nothing  new, 

But  did  as  poor  men  do! 

One  of  the  people!     Born  to  be 

Their  curious  epitome ; 

To  share,  yet  rise  above 
Their  shifting  hate  and  love. 

Common  his  mind  (it  seemed  so  then), 
His  thought  the  thoughts  of  other  men: 

Plain  were  his  words,  and  poor  — 

But  now  they  will  endure! 

No  hasty  fool,  of  stubborn  will, 
But  prudent,  cautious,  pliant,  still; 

Who,  since  his  work  was  good, 

Would  do  it,  as  he  could. 

Doubting,  was  not  ashamed  to  doubt, 
And,  lacking  prescience,  went  without: 
Often  appeared  to  halt, 
And  was,  of  course,  at  fault: 

Heard  all  opinions,  nothing  loth, 
And  loving  both  sides,  angered  both: 

Was  —  not  like  justice,  blind, 

But  watchful,  clement,  kind. 

No  hero,  this,  of  Roman  mould; 

Nor  like  our  stately  sires  of  old: 
Perhaps  he  was  not  great  — 
But  he  preserved  that  State! 


200  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

O  honest  face,  which  all  men  knew! 
O  tender  heart,  but  known  to  few! 

O  wonder  of  the  age, 

Cut  off  by  tragic  rage! 

Peace!     Let  the  long  procession  come, 
For  hark!  —  the  mournful,  muffled  drum 

The  trumpet's  wail  afar, — 

And  see !  the  awful  car ! 

Peace!     Let  the  sad  procession  go, 
While  cannon  boom,  and  bells  toll  slow : 

And  go,  thou  sacred  car, 

Bearing  our  woe  afar ! 

Go,  darkly  borne,  from  State  to  State, 
Whose  loyal,  sorrowing  cities  wait 
To  honor  all  they  can 
The  dust  of  that  good  man! 

Go,  grandly  borne,  with  such  a  train 
As  greatest  kings  might  die  to  gain: 
The  just,  the  wise,  the  brave 
Attend  thee  to  the  grave ! 

And  you,  the  soldiers  of  our  wars, 
Bronzed  veterans,  grim  with  noble  scars, 
Salute  him  once  again, 
Your  late  commander  —  slain! 

Yes,  let  your  tears,  indignant,  fall, 
But  leave  your  muskets  on  the  wall : 
Your  country  needs  you  now 
Beside  the  forge,  the  plough! 


AN  HORATIAN  ODE  201 

(When  justice  shall  unsheathe  her  brand, — 
If  mercy  may  not  stay  her  hand, 

Nor  would  we  have  it  so  — 

She  must  direct  the  blow!) 

And  you,  amid  the  master-race, 
Who  seem  so  strangely  out  of  place, 

Know  ye  who  cometh?     He 

Who  hath  declared  ye  free! 

Bow  while  the  body  passes  —  nay, 
Fall  on  your  knees,  and  weep,  and  pray ! 
Weep,  weep  —  I  would  ye  might  — 
Your  poor,  black  faces  white ! 

And  children,  you  must  come  in  bands, 
With  garlands  in  your  little  hands, 

Of  blue,  and  white,  and  red, 

To  strew  before  the  dead! 

So  sweetly,  sadly,  sternly  goes 
The  fallen  to  his  last  repose: 

Beneath  no  mighty  dome. 

But  in  his  modest  home; 

The  churchyard  where  his  children  rest, 
The  quiet  spot  that  suits  him  best: 

There  shall  his  grave  be  made, 

And  there  his  bones  be  laid! 

And  there  his  countrymen  shall  come, 

With  memory  proud,  with  pity  dumb, 

And  strangers  far  and  near, 

For  many  and  many  a  year! 


202  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

For  many  a  year,  and  many  an  age, 
While  history  on  her  ample  page 
The  virtues  shall  enroll 
Of  that  paternal  soul ! 


SOME  FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  TO  LINCOLN 

From  "  The  Lives  and  Deeds  of  Our  Self- 
made  Men  " 1 

BY    MRS.    HARRIET    BEECHER    STOWE 
(I889) 

On  the  first  of  May,  1865,  Sir  George  Grey,  in 
the  English  House  of  Commons,  moved  an  ad 
dress  to  the  Crown,  to  express  the  feelings  of  the 
House  upon  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  In 
this  address  he  said  that  he  was  convinced  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  "  in  the  hour  of  victory,  and  in  the  triumph 
of  victory,  would  have  shown  that  wise  forbear 
ance,  and  that  generous  consideration,  which  would 
have  added  tenfold  lustre  to  the  fame  that  he  had 
already  acquired,  amidst  the  varying  fortunes  of 
the  war." 

In  seconding  the  second  address,  at  the  same  time 
and  place,  Mr.  Benjamin  Disraeli  said :  "  But  in 
the  character  of  the  victim,  and  in  the  very  acces 
sories  of  his  almost  latest  moments,  there  is  some 
thing  so  homely  and  so  innocent  that  it  takes  the 
subject,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  pomp  of  history,  and 

1  By  permission  of  Dana  Estes  Company. 


FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  203 

out  of  the  ceremonial  of  diplomacy.  It  touches 
the  heart  of  nations,  and  appeals  to  the  domestic 
sentiments  of  mankind." 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  John  Russell,  in 
moving  a  similar  address,  observed :  "  President 
Lincoln  was  a  man  who,  although  he  had  not  been 
distinguished  before  his  election,  had  from  that 
time  displayed  a  character  of  so  much  integrity, 
sincerity  and  straightforwardness,  and  at  the  same 
time  of  so  much  kindness,  that  if  any  one  could 
have  been  able  to  alleviate  the  pain  and  animosity 
which  have  prevailed  during  the  civil  war,  I  be 
lieve  President  Lincoln  was  the  man  to  have  done 
so."  And  again,  in  speaking  of  the  question  of 
amending  the  Constitution  so  as  to  prohibit  slavery, 
he  said :  "  We  must  all  feel  that  there  again  the 
death  of  President  Lincoln  deprives  the  United 
States  of  the  man  who  was  the  leader  on  this 
subject." 

Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  the  distinguished  philoso 
pher,  in  a  letter  to  an  American  friend,  used  far 
stronger  expressions  than  these  guarded  phrases  of 
high  officials.  He  termed  Mr.  Lincoln  "  the  great 
citizen  who  had  afforded  so  noble  an  example  of  the 
qualities  befitting  the  first  magistrate  of  a  free  peo 
ple,  and  who,  in  the  most  trying  circumstances,  had 
gradually  won  not  only  the  admiration,  but  almost 
the  personal  affection  of  all  who  love  freedom  or 
appreciate  simplicity  or  uprightness." 

Professor  Goldwin  Smith  writing  to  the  London 
Daily  News,  began  by  saying,  "  It  is  difficult  to 
measure  the  calamity  which  the  United  States  and 


204  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  world  have  sustained  by  the  murder  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln.  The  assassin  has  done  his  best  to 
strike  down  mercy  and  moderation,  of  both  of 
which  this  good  and  noble  life  was  the  mainstay." 
Senhor  Rebello  da  Silva,  a  member  of  the  Portu 
guese  Chamber  of  Peers,  in  moving  a  resolution  on 
the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  thus  outlined  his  char 
acter  :  "  He  is  truly  great  who  rises  to  the  loftiest 
heights  from  profound  obscurity,  relying  solely  on 
his  own  merits  as  did  Napoleon,  Washington,  Lin 
coln.  For  these  arose  to  power  and  greatness,  not 
through  any  favor  or  grace,  by  a  chance  cradle,  or 
genealogy,  but  through  the  prestige  of  their  own 
deeds,  through  the  nobility  which  begins  and  ends 
with  themselves  —  the  sole  offspring  of  their  own 
works.  .  .  .  Lincoln  was  of  this  privileged 
class ;  he  belonged  to  this  aristocracy.  In  infancy, 
his  energetic  soul  was  nourished  by  poverty.  In 
youth,  he  learned  through  toil  the  love  of  liberty, 
and  respect  for  the  rights  of  man.  Even  to  the 
age  of  twenty-two,  educated  in  adversity,  his  hands 
made  callous  by  honorable  labor,  he  rested  from 
the  fatigues  of  the  field,  spelling  out,  in  the  pages 
of  the  Bible,  in  the  lessons  of  the  gospel,  in  the 
fugitive  leaves  of  the  daily  journal  —  which  the 
aurora  opens,  and  the  night  disperses  —  the  first 
rudiments  of  instruction,  which  his  solitary  medita 
tions  ripened.  The  chrysalis  felt  one  day  the  ray 
of  the  sun,  which  called  it  to  life,  broke  its  involu- 
crum,  and  it  launched  forth  fearlessly  from  the 
darkness  of  its  humble  cloister  into  the  luminous 
spaces  of  its  destiny.  The  farmer,  day-laborer, 


FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  205 

shepherd,  like  Cincinnatus,  left  the  ploughshare  in 
the  half-broken  furrow,  and,  legislator  of  his  own 
State,  and  afterwards  of  the  Great  Republic,  saw 
himself  proclaimed  in  the  tribunal  the  popular 
chief  of  several  millions  of  people,  the  maintainer 
of  the  holy  principle  inaugurated  by  Wilberforce." 

There  are  some  vague  and  some  only  partially 
correct  statements  in  this  diffuse  passage;  but  it 
shows  plainly  enough  how  enthusiastically  the 
Portuguese  nobleman  had  admired  the  antique  sim 
plicity  and  strength  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character. 

Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne,  the  historian  of  the  Refor 
mation,  writing  to  Mr.  Fogg,  U.  S.  Minister  to 
Switzerland,  said :  "  While  not  venturing  to  com 
pare  him  to  the  great  sacrifice  of  Golgotha,  which 
gave  liberty  to  the  captives,  is  it  not  just,  in  this 
hour,  to  recall  the  word  of  an  apostle  (I  John  iii, 
16)  :  '  Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God,  be 
cause  he  laid  down  his  life  for  us :  and  we  ought  to 
lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren  ? '  Who  can 
say  that  the  President  did  not  lay  down  his  life 
by  the  firmness  of  his  devotion  to  a  great  duty? 
The  name  of  Lincoln  will  remain  one  of  the  great 
est  that  history  has  to  inscribe  on  its  annals. 
.  Among  the  legacies  which  Lincoln  leaves 
to  us,  we  shall  all  regard  as  the  most  precious,  his 
spirit  of  equity,  of  moderation,  and  of  peace,  ac 
cording  to  which  he  will  still  preside,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  over  the  restoration  of  your  great  nation." 

The  "  Democratic  Association  "  of  Florence,  ad 
dressed  "  to  the  Free  People  of  the  United  States," 
a  letter,  in  which  they  term  Mr.  Lincoln  "  the 


206  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

honest,  the  magnanimous  citizen,  the  most  worthy 
chief  magistrate  of  your  glorious  Federation/' 

The  eminent  French  liberal,  M.  Edouard  Labou- 
laye,  in  a  speech  showing  a  remarkably  just  under 
standing  and  extremely  broad  views  with  respect 
to  the  affairs  and  the  men  of  the  United  States, 
said :  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  one  of  those  heroes  who 
are  ignorant  of  themselves;  his  thoughts  will  reign 
after  him.  The  name  of  Washington  has  already 
been  pronounced,  and  I  think  with  reason.  Doubt 
less  Mr.  Lincoln  resembled  Franklin  more  than 
Washington.  By  his  origin,  his  arch  good  nature, 
his  ironical  good  sense,  and  his  love  of  anecdotes 
and  jesting,  he  was  of  the  same  blood  as  the  printer 
of  Philadelphia.  But  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
in  less  than  a  century,  America  has  passed  through 
two  crises  in  which  its  liberty  might  have  been 
lost,  if  it  had  not  had  honest  men  at  its  head;  and 
that  each  time  it  has  had  the  happiness  to  meet 
the  man  best  fitted  to  serve  it.  If  Washingon 
founded  the  Union,  Lincoln  has  saved  it.  History 
will  draw  together  and  unite  those  two  names.  A 
single  word  explains  Mr.  Lincoln's  whole  life:  it 
was  Duty.  Never  did  he  put  himself  forward; 
never  did  he  think  of  himself;  never  did  he  seek 
one  of  those  ingenious  combinations  which  puts 
the  head  of  a  state  in  bold  relief,  and  enhances  his 
importance  at  the  expense  of  the  country;  his  only 
ambition,  his  only  thought  was  faithfully  to  fulfil 
the  mission  which  his  fellow-citizens  had  entrusted 
to  him.  .  .  .  His  inaugural  address,  March 
4,  1865,  shows  us  what  progress  had  been  made  in 


FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  207 

his  soul.  This  piece  of  familiar  eloquence  is  a 
master-piece;  it  is  the  testament  of  a  patriot.  I 
do  not  believe  that  any  eulogy  of  the  President 
would  equal  this  page  on  which  he  had  depicted 
himself  in  all  his  greatness  and  all  his  simplicity. 
.  .  .  History  is  too  often  only  a  school  of  im 
morality.  It  shows  us  the  victory  of  force  or 
stratagem  much  more  than  the  success  of  justice, 
moderation,  and  probity.  It  is  too  often  only  the 
apotheosis  of  triumphant  selfishness.  There  are 
noble  and  great  exceptions ;  happy  those  who  can 
increase  the  number,  and  thus  bequeath  a  noble 
and  beneficent  example  to  posterity!  Mr.  Lin 
coln  is  among  these.  He  would  willingly  have  re 
peated,  after  Franklin,  that  *  falsehood  and  artifice 
are  the  practice  of  fools  who  have  not  wit  enough 
to  be  honest.'  All  his  private  life,  and  all  his  po 
litical  life,  were  inspired  and  directed  by  this  pro 
found  faith  in  the  omnipotence  of  virtue.  It  is 
through  this,  again,  that  he  deserves  to  be  com 
pared  with  Washington ;  it  is  through  this  that  he 
will  remain  in  history  with  the  most  glorious  name 
that  can  be  merited  by  the  head  of  a  free  people  — 
a  name  given  him  by  his  cotemporaries,  and  which 
will  be  preserved  to  him  by  posterity  —  that  of 
Honest  Abraham  Lincoln." 

A  letter  from  the  well-known  French  historian, 
Henri  Martin,  to  the  Paris  Siecle,  contained  the  fol 
lowing  passages :  "  Lincoln  will  remain  the  austere 
and  sacred  personification  of  a  great  epoch,  the 
most  faithful  expression  of  democracy.  This 
simple  and  upright  man,  prudent  and  strong,  ele- 


208  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

vated  step  by  step  from  the  artisan's  bench  to  the 
command  of  a  great  nation,  and  always  without 
parade  and  without  effort,  at  the  height  of  his 
position ;  executing  without  precipitation,  without 
flourish,  and  with  invincible  good  sense,  the  most 
colossal  acts;  giving  to  the  world  this  decisive  ex 
ample  of  the  civil  power  in  a  republic;  directing  a 
gigantic  war,  without  free  institutions  being  for 
an  instant  compromised  or  threatened  by  military 
usurpation ;  dying,  finally,  at  the  moment  when, 
after  conquering,  he  was  intent  on  pacification, 
.  .  .  this  man  will  stand  out,  in  the  traditions 
of  his  country  and  the  world,  as  an  incarnation 
of  the  people,  and  of  modern  democracy  itself. 
The  great  work  of  emancipation  had  to  be  sealed, 
therefore,  with  the  blood  of  the  just,  even  as  it  was 
inaugurated  with  the  blood  of  the  just.  The  tragic 
history  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  which  opened 
with  the  gibbet  of  John  Brown,  will  close  with  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln. 

"  And  now  let  him  rest  by  the  side  of  Washington, 
as  the  second  founder  of  the  great  Republic. 
European  democracy  is  present  in  spirit  at  his 
funeral,  as  it  voted  in  its  heart  for  his  re-election, 
and  applauded  the  victory  in  the  midst  of  which 
he  passed  away.  It  will  wish  with  one  accord  to 
associate  itself  with  the  monument  that  America 
will  raise  to  him  upon  the  capitol  of  prostrate 
slavery." 

The  London  Globe,  in  commenting  on  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  assassination,  said  that  he  "  had  come  nobly 
through  a  great  ordeal.  He  had  extorted  the  ad- 


FOREIGN  TRIBUTES  209 

miration  even  of  his  opponents,  at  least  on  this 
side  of  the  water.  They  had  come  to  admire,  re 
luctantly,  his  firmness,  honesty,  fairness  and 
sagacity.  He  tried  to  do,  and  had  done,  what  he 
considered  his  duty,  with  magnanimity." 

The  London  Express  said,  "  He  had  tried  to 
show  the  world  how  great,  how  moderate,  and  how 
true  he  could  be,  in  the  moment  of  his  great 
triumph." 

The  Liverpool  Post  said,  "  If  ever  there  was  a 
man  who  in  trying  times  avoided  offenses,  it  was 
Mr.  Lincoln.  If  there  ever  was  a  leader  in  a  civil 
contest  who  shunned  acrimony  and  eschewed  pas 
sion,  it  was  he.  In  a  time  of  much  cant  and  af 
fectation  he  was  simple,  unaffected,  true,  trans 
parent.  In  a  season  of  many  mistakes  he  was 
never  known  to  be  wrong.  .  .  .  By  a  happy 
tact,  not  often  so  felicitously  blended  with  pure  evi 
dence  of  soul,  Abraham  Lincoln  knew  when  to 
speak,  and  never  spoke  too  early  or  too  late. 
.  .  .  The  memory  of  his  statesmanship,  trans 
lucent  in  the  highest  degree,  and  above  the  average, 
and  openly  faithful,  more  than  almost  any  of  this 
age  has  witnessed,  to  fact  and  right,  will  live  in 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  whole  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  as  one  of  the  noblest  examples  of  that  race's 
highest  qualities.  Add  to  all  this  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  the  humblest  and  pleasantest  of  men, 
that  he  had  raised  himself  from  nothing,  and  that 
to  the  last  no  grain  of  conceit  or  ostentation  was 
found  in  him,  and  there  stands  before  the  world  a 
man  whose  like  we  shall  not  soon  look  upon  again." 


210  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  the  remarks  of  M.  Rouher,  the  French 
Minister,  in  the  Legislative  Assembly,  on  submit 
ting  to  that  Assembly  the  official  despatch  of  the 
French  Foreign  Minister  of  the  Charge  at  Wash 
ington,  M.  Rouher  remarked,  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  per 
sonal  character,  that  he  had  exhibited  "  that  calm 
firmness  and  indomitable  energy  which  belong  to 
strong  minds,  and  are  the  necessary  conditions  of 
the  accomplishment  of  great  duties.  In  the  hour 
of  victory  he  exhibited  generosity,  moderation  and 
conciliation." 

And  in  the  despatch,  which  was  signed  by  Mr. 
Drouyn  de  L'Huys,  were  the  following  expressions : 
"  Abraham  Lincoln  exhibited,  in  the  exercise  of 
the  power  placed  in  his  hands,  the  most  substantial 
qualities.  In  him,  firmness  of  character  was  allied 
to  elevation  of  principle.  ...  In  reviewing 
these  last  testimonies  to  his  exalted  wisdom,  as  well 
as  the  examples  of  good  sense,  of  courage,  and  of 
patriotism,  which  he  has  given,  history  will  not 
hesitate  to  place  him  in  the  rank  of  citizens  who 
have  the  most  honored  their  country." 

In  the  Prussian  Lower  House,  Herr  Loewes,  in 
speaking  of  the  news  of  the  assassination,  said 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  "  performed  his  duties  without 
pomp  or  ceremony,  and  relied  on  that  dignity  of 
his  inner  self  alone,  which  is  far  above  rank,  orders 
and  titles.  He  was  a  faithful  servant,  not  less  of 
his  own  commonwealth  than  of  civilization,  free 
dom  and  humanity." 


THE  GETTYSBURG  ODE  211 

FROM  '  THE  GETTYSBURG  ODE ' 

BY  BAYARD  TAYLOR 

After  the  eyes  that  looked,  the  lips  that  spake 
Here,  from  the  shadows  of  impending  death, 

Those  words  of  solemn  breath, 

What  voice  may  fitly  break 
The  silence,  doubly  hallowed,  left  by  him? 
We  can  but  bow  the  head,  with  eyes  grown  dim, 

And  as  a  Nation's  litany,  repeat 
The   phrase   his   martyrdom   hath   made   complete, 
Noble  as  then,  but  now  more  sadly  sweet: 
"  Let  us,  the  Living,  rather  dedicate 
Ourselves  to  the  unfinished  work,  which  they 
Thus  far  advanced  so  nobly  on  its  way, 

And  saved  the  perilled  State! 
Let  us,  upon  this  field  where  they,  the  brave, 
Their  last  full  measure  of  devotion  gave, 
Highly  resolve  they  have  not  died  in  vain!  — 
That,  under  God,  the  Nation's  later  birth 

Of  Freedom,  and  the  people's  gain 
Of  their  own  Sovereignty,  shall  never  wane 
And  perish  from  the  circle  of  the  earth !  " 
From  such  a  perfect  text,  shall  Song  aspire 

To  light  her  faded  fire, 
And  into  wandering  music  turn 
Its  virtue,  simple,  sorrowful,  and  stern? 
His  voice  all  elegies  anticipated; 

For,  whatsoe'er  the  strain, 

We  hear  that  one  refrain: 


212  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

"  We   consecrate    ourselves    to    them,    the   Conse 
crated  ! " 


TRIBUTES 

Thank  God  for  Abraham  Lincoln!  However 
lightly  the  words  may  sometimes  pass  your  lips, 
let  us  speak  them  now  and  always  of  this  man 
sincerely,  solemnly,  reverently,  as  so  often  dying 
soldiers  and  bereaved  women  and  little  children 
spoke  them.  Thank  God  for  Abraham  Lincoln  — 
for  the  Lincoln  who  died  and  whose  ashes  rest  at 
Springfield  —  for  the  Lincoln  who  lives  in  the 
hearts  of  the  American  people  —  in  their  widened 
sympathies  and  uplifted  ideals.  Thank  God  for 
the  work  he  did,  is  doing,  and  is  to  do.  Thank 
God  for  Abraham  Lincoln. 

James  Willis  deed. 


Let  us  not  then  try  to  compare  and  to  measure 
him  with  others,  and  let  us  not  quarrel  as  to 
whether  he  was  greater  or  less  than  Washington, 
as  to  whether  either  of  them  set  to  perform  the 
other's  task  would  have  succeeded  in  it,  or,  per 
chance  would  have  failed.  Not  only  is  the  com 
petition  itself  an  ungracious  one,  but  to  make  Lin 
coln  a  competitor  is  foolish  and  useless.  He  was 
the  most  individual  man  who  ever  lived;  let  us 
be  content  with  this  fact.  Let  us  take  him  simply 


TRIBUTES  213 

as  Abraham  Lincoln,  singular  and  solitary,  as  we 
all  see  that  he  was ;  let  us  be  thankful  if  we  can 
make  a  niche  big  enough  for  him  among  the  world's 
heroes,  without  worrying  ourselves  about  the  pro 
portion  which  it  may  bear  to  other  niches;  and 
there  let  him  remain  forever,  lonely,  as  in  his 
strange  lifetime,  impressive,  mysterious,  unmeas 
ured,  and  unsolved. 

John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 


Those  who  are  raised  high  enough  to  be  able 
to  look  over  the  stone  walls,  those  who  are  in 
telligent  enough  to  take  a  broader  view  of  things 
than  that  which  is  bounded  by  the  lines  of  any  one 
State  or  section,  understand  that  the  unity  of  the 
nation  is  of  the  first  importance,  and  are  prepared 
to  make  those  sacrifices  and  concessions,  within 
the  bounds  of  loyalty,  which  are  necessary  for  its 
maintenance,  and  to  cherish  that  temper  of  frater 
nal  affection  which  alone  can  fill  the  form  of  na 
tional  existence  with  the  warm  blood  of  life.  The 
first  man  after  the  Civil  War,  to  recognize  this 
great  principle  and  to  act  upon  it  was  the  head 
of  the  nation, —  that  large  and  generous  soul  whose 
worth  was  not  fully  felt  until  he  was  taken  from 
his  people  by  the  stroke  of  the  assassin,  in  the  very 
hour  when  his  presence  was  most  needed  for  the 
completion  of  the  work  of  reunion. 

Henry  Van  Dyke. 


214  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

LINCOLN 
From  MacMillan's  Magazine,  England 

LINCOLN!     When  men  would  name  a  man 
Just,  unperturbed,  magnanimous, 

Tried  in  the  lowest  seat  of  all, 

Tried  in  the  chief  seat  of  the  house  — 

Lincoln!  When  men  would  name  a  man 
Who  wrought  the  great  work  of  his  age, 

Who  fought  and  fought  the  noblest  fight, 
And  marshalled  it  from  stage  to  stage, 

Victorious,  out  of  dusk  and  dark, 
And  into  dawn  and  on  till  day, 

Most  humble  when  the  paeans  rang, 
Least  rigid  when  the  enemy  lay 

Prostrated  for  his  feet  to  tread  — 
This  name  of  Lincoln  will  they  name, 

A  name  revered,  a  name  of  scorn, 
Of  scorn  to  sundry,  not  to  fame. 

Lincoln,  the  man  who  freed  the  slave; 

Lincoln  whom  never  self  enticed; 
Slain  Lincoln,  worthy  found  to  die 

A  soldier  of  his  captain  Christ. 


LINCOLN  215 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

This  man  whose  homely  face  you  look  upon,     I 
Was  one  of  Nature's  masterful,  great  men; 
Born   with   strong  arms,   that   unfought  battles 

won, 

Direct  of  speech,  and  cunning  with  the  pen. 
Chosen  for  large  designs,  he  had  the  art 
Of  winning  with  his  humor,  and  he  went 
Straight  to  his  mark,  which  was  the  human  heart ; 
Wise,  too,  for  what  he  could  not  break  he  bent. 
Upon  his  back  a  more  than  Atlas-load, 
The  burden  of  the  Commonwealth,  was  laid; 
He  stooped,  and  rose  up  to  it,  though  the  road 
Shot  suddenly  downwards,  not  a  whit  dismayed. 
Hold,    warriors,    councillors,    kings!     All    now 

give  place 
To  this  dead  Benefactor  of  the  race ! 

Richard  Henry  Stoddard. 


LINCOLN 


BY   EDNA   DEAN   PROCTOR 

Now  must  the  storied  Potomac 

Laurels   for  ever   divide, 
Now  to  the   Sangamon   fameless 

Give  of  its  century's  pride. 

*By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


216  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Sangamon,  stream  of  the  prairies, 

Placidly  westward  that  flows, 
Far  in  whose  city  of  silence 

Calm  he  has  sought  his  repose. 
Over  our  Washington's  river 

Sunrise  beams  rosy  and  fair, 
Sunset  on  Sangamon  fairer  — 

Father  and  martyr  lies  there. 

Kings  under  pyramids  slumber, 

Sealed  in  the  Lybian  sands; 
Princes  in  gorgeous  cathedrals 

Decked  with  the  spoil  of  the  lands 
Kinglier,  princelier  sleeps  he 

Couched  'mid  the  prairies  serene, 
Only  the  turf  and  the  willow 

Him  and  God's  heaven  between ! 
Temple  nor  column  to  cumber 

Verdure  and  bloom  of  the  sod  — 
So,  in  the  vale  by  Beth-peor, 

Moses  was  buried  of  God. 

Break  into  blossom,  O  prairies! 

Snowy  and  golden  and  red; 
Peers  of  the  Palestine  lilies 

Heap  for  your  glorious  dead! 
Roses  as  fair  as  of  Sharon, 

Branches  as  stately  as  palm, 
Odors  as  rich  as  the  spices  — 

Cassia  and  aloes  and  balm  — 
Mary  the  loved  and  Salome, 

All  with  a  gracious  accord, 
Ere  the  first  glow  of  the  morning 

Brought  to  the  tomb  of  the  Lord 


LINCOLN  217 

.Wind  of  the  West !  breathe  around  him 

Soft  as  the  saddened  air's  sigh 
When  to  the  summit  of  Pisgah 

Moses  had  journeyed  to  die. 
Clear  as  its  anthem  that  floated 

Wide  o'er  the  Moabite  plain, 
Low  with  the  wail  of  the  people 

Blending  its  burdened  refrain. 
Rarer,  O  Wind!  and  diviner, — 

Sweet  as  the  breeze  that  went  by 
When,  over  Olivet's  mountain, 

Jesus  was  lost  in  the  sky. 

Not  for  thy  sheaves  nor  savannas 

Crown  we  thee,  proud  Illinois! 
Here  in  his  grave  is  thy  grandeur ; 

Born  of  his  sorrow  thy  joy. 
Only  the  tomb  by  Mount  Zion 

Hewn  for  the  Lord  do  we  hold 
Dearer  than  his  in  thy  prairies, 

Girdled  with  harvests  of  gold. 
Still  for  the  world,  through  the  ages 

Wreathing  with  glory  his  brow, 
He  shall  be  Liberty's  Saviour  — 

Freedom's  Jerusalem  thou! 


218  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 


WHEN  LILACS  LAST  IN  THE  DOORYARD 
BLOOM'D  1 

BY   WALT   WHITMAN 

I 

When  lilacs  last  in  the  dooryard  bloom'd, 

And  the  great  star  early  droop'd  in  the  western 

sky  in  the  night, 

I  mourn'd,  and  yet  shall  mourn  with  ever-return 
ing  spring. 

Ever-returning  spring,  trinity  sure  to  me  you  bring, 
Lilac  blooming  perennial  and  drooping  star  in  the 

west, 
And  thought  of  him  I  love. 

II 

O  powerful  western  fallen  star! 

O  shades  of  night  —  O  moody,  tearful  night ! 

O  great  star  disappear'd  —  O  the  black  murk  that 
hides  the  star! 

O  cruel  hands  that  hold  me  powerless  —  O  help 
less  soul  of  me! 

O  harsh  surrounding  cloud  that  will  not  free  my 
soul. 

1  By  permission  of  David  McKay. 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  219 

III 

In  the  dooryard  fronting  an  old  farm-house  near  the 
white-wash'd  palings, 

Stands  the  lilac-bush  tall-growing  with  heart- 
shaped  leaves  of  rich  green, 

With  many  a  pointed  blossom  rising  delicate,  with 
the  perfume  strong  I  love, 

With  every  leaf  a  miracle  —  and  from  this  bush 

in  the  dooryard, 
With    delicate-color'd    blossoms    and    heart-shaped 

leaves  of  rich  green, 
A  sprig  with  its  flower  I  break. 

IV 

In  the  swamp  in  secluded  recesses, 

A  shy  and  hidden  bird  is  warbling  a  song. 

Solitary  the  thrush, 

The   hermit   withdrawn   to   himself,    avoiding   the 

settlements, 
Sings  by  himself  a  song. 

Song  of  the  bleeding  throat, 

Death's  outlet  song  of  life  (for  well,  dear  brother, 

I  know, 
If  thou  wast  not  granted  to  sing  thou  would'st 

surely  die). 


Over  the  breast  of  the  spring,  the  land,  amid  cities, 
Amid  lanes  and  through  old  woods,  where  lately 


220  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  violets  peep'd  from  the  ground,   spotting 

the  gray  debris, 
Amid  the  grass  in  the  fields  each  side  of  the  lanes, 

passing  the  endless  grass. 
Passing  the  yellow-spear'd  wheat,  every  grain  from 

its  shroud  in  the  dark-brown  fields  uprisen, 
Passing  the  apple-tree  blows  of  white  and  pink  in 

the  orchards, 

Carrying  a  corpse  to  where  it  shall  rest  in  the  grave, 
Night  and  day  journeys  a  coffin. 

VI 

Coffin  that  passes  through  lanes  and  streets, 

Through  day  and  night  with  the  great  cloud  dark 
ening  the  land, 

With  the  pomp  of  the  inloop'd  flags  with  the  cities 
draped  in  black, 

With  the  show  of  the  States  themselves  as  of  crape- 
veil'd  women  standing, 

With  processions  long  and  winding  and  the  flam 
beaus  of  the  night, 

With  the  countless  torches  lit,  with  the  silent  sea 
of  faces  and  the  unbared  heads, 

With  the  waiting  depot,  the  arriving  coffin,  and  the 
sombre  faces, 

With  dirges  through  the  night,  with  the  thousand 
voices  rising  strong  and  solemn, 

With  all  the  mournful  voices  of  the  dirges  pour'd 
around  the  coffin, 

The  dim-lit  churches  and  the  shuddering  organs  — 
where  amid  these  you  journey, 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  221 

With  the  tolling,  tolling  bells'  perpetual  clang, 
Here,  coffin  that  slowly  passes, 
I  give  you  my  sprig  of  lilac. 

VII 

(Nor  for  you,  for  one  alone, 

Blossoms  and  branches  green  to  coffins  all  I  bring, 
For  fresh  as  the  morning,  thus  would  I  chant  a 
song  for  you,  O  sane  and  sacred  death. 

All  over  bouquets  of  roses, 

O  death,  I  cover  you  over  with  roses  and  early 

lilies, 

But  mostly  and  now  the  lilac  that  blooms  the  first, 
Copious  I  break,  I  break  the  sprigs  from  the  bushes, 
With  loaded  arms  I  come,  pouring  for  you, 
For  you  and  the  coffins  all  of  you,  O  death). 

VIII 

O  western  orb  sailing  the  heaven, 

Now   I   know   what  you   must  have   meant   as   a 

month  since  I  walk'd, 
As   I   walk'd   in   silence  the   transparent   shadowy 

night, 
As  I  saw  you  had  something  to  tell  as  you  bent  to 

me  night  after  night, 
As  you  droop'd  from  the  sky  low  down  as  if  to 

my  side  (while  the  other  stars  all  look'd  on), 
As  we  wander'd  together  the   solemn  night    (for 

something,  I  know  not  what,  kept  me  from 

sleep), 


222  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

As  the  night  advanced,  and  I  saw  on  the  rim  of 

the  west  how  full  you  were  of  woe, 
As  I  stood  on  the  rising  ground  in  the  breeze  in  the 

cool  transparent  night, 
As  I  watch'd  where  you  pass'd  and  was  lost  in  the 

netherward  black  of  the  night, 
As  my  soul  in  its  trouble  dissatisfied  sank,  as  where 

you,  sad  orb, 
Concluded,  dropt  in  the  night,  and  was  gone. 

IX 

Sing  on  there  in  the  swamp, 

0  singer,  bashful  and  tender,  I  hear  your  notes,  I 

hear  your  call, 

1  hear,  I  come  presently,  I  understand  you, 

But  a  moment  I  linger,  for  the  lustrous  star  has 

detain'd  me, 
The  star,  my  departing  comrade  holds  and  detains 

me. 

X 

O  how  shall  I  warble  myself  for  the  dead  one  there 

I  loved? 
And  how  shall  I  deck  my  song  for  the  large  sweet 

soul  that  has  gone? 
And  what  shall  my  perfume  be  for  the  grave  of  him 

I  love? 

Sea-winds  blown   from   east  and  west, 
Blown  from  the  Eastern  sea  and  blown  from  the 

Western  sea,  till  there  on  the  prairies  meeting, 
These  and  with  these  and  the  breath  of  my  chant, 
I'll  perfume  the  grave  of  him  I  love. 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  223 

XI 

O  what  shall  I  hang  on  the  chamber  walls? 

And  what  shall  the  pictures  be  that  I  hang  on  the 

walls, 
To  adorn  the  burial-house  of  him  I  love*? 

Pictures  of  growing  spring  and  farms  and  homes, 
With  the  Fourth-month  eve  at  sundown,  and  the 

gray  smoke  lucid  and  bright, 
With  floods  of  the  yellow  gold  of  the  gorgeous, 

indolent,  sinking  sun,  burning,  expanding  the 

air, 
With  the  fresh  sweet  herbage  under  foot,  and  the 

pale  green  leaves  of  the  trees  prolific, 
In  the  distance  the  flowing  glaze,  the  breast  of  the 

river,  with  a  wind-dapple  here  and  there, 
With  ranging  hills  on  the  banks,  with  many  a  line 

against  the  sky,  and  shadows, 
And  the  city  at  hand  with  dwellings  so  dense,  and 

stacks  of  chimneys, 
And  all  the  scenes  of  life  and  the  workshops,  and 

the  workmen  homeward  returning. 

XII 

Lo,  body  and  soul  —  this  land, 

My  own  Manhattan  with  spires,  and  the  sparkling 

and  hurrying  tides,  and  the  ships, 
The  varied   and   ample   land,   the    South   and   the 

North  in  the  light,  Ohio's  shores  and  flashing 

Missouri, 
And  ever  the  far-spreading  prairies  cover'd  with 

grass  and  corn. 


224  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Lo,  the  most  excellent  sun  so  calm  and  haughty, 
The  violet  and  purple  morn  with  just-felt  breezes, 
The  gentle  soft-born  measureless  light, 
The    miracle    spreading,    bathing   all,    the    fulfilled 

noon, 
The  coming  eve  delicious,  the  welcome  night  and 

the  stars, 
Over   my  cities   shining  all,  enveloping  man   and 

land. 

XIII 

Sing  on,  sing  on,  you  gray-brown  bird, 

Sing   from   the   swamps,   the   recesses,   pour   your 

chant  from  the  bushes, 
Limitless  out  of  the  dusk,  out  of  the  cedars  and 

pines. 

Sing  on,  dearest  brother,  warble  your  reedy  song, 
Loud  human  song,  with  voice  of  uttermost  woe. 

O  liquid  and  free  and  tender ! 

O  wild  and  loose  to  my  soul  —  O  wondrous  singer ! 

You  only  I  hear  —  yet  the  star  holds  me  (but  will 

soon    depart), 
Yet  the  lilac  with  mastering  odor  holds  me. 

XIV 

Now  while  I  sat  in  the  day  and  look'd  forth, 

In  the  close  of  the  day  with  its  light  and  the  fields 

of   spring,    and   the   farmers   preparing   their 

crops, 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  225 

In  the  large  unconscious  scenery  of  my  land  with 

its  lakes  and  forests, 
In  the  heavenly  aerial  beauty   (after  the  perturb'd 

winds  and  the  storms), 
Under  the  arching  heavens  of  the  afternoon  swift 

passing,  and  the  voices  of  children  and  women, 
The  many-moving  sea-tides,  and  I  saw  the  ships 

how  they  sail'd, 
And  the  summer  approaching  with  richness,  and 

the  fields  all  busy  with  labor, 
And  the  infinite  separate  houses,  how  they  all  went 

on,  each  with  its  meals  and  minutia  of  daily 

usages, 
And  the  streets,  how  their  throbbings  throbb'd,  and 

the  cities  pent  —  lo,  then  and  there, 
Falling  upon  them  all   and   among  them  all,   en 
veloping  me  with  the  rest, 

Appear'd  the  cloud,  appeared  the  long  black  trail, 
And   I   knew   death,   its   thought,   and   the    sacred 

knowledge  of  death. 
Then  with  the  knowledge  of  death  as  walking  one 

side  of  me, 
And  the  thought  of  death  close-walking  the  other 

side  of  me, 
And   in   the   middle   as   with   companions,   and   as 

holding  the  hands  of  companions, 
I    fled   forth   to   the   hiding,    receiving   night   that 

talks  not, 
Down  to  the  shores  of  the  water,  the  path  by  the 

swamp  in  the  dimness, 
To  the  solemn  shadowy  cedars  and  ghostly  pines 

so  still. 


226  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  the  singer  so  shy  to  the  rest  receiv'd  me, 
The  gray-brown  bird  I  know  receiv'd  us  comrades 

three, 
And  he  sang  the  carol  of  death,  and  a  verse  for  him 

I  love. 

From  deep  secluded  recesses, 

From  the   fragrant  cedars  and  the  ghostly  pines 

so  still, 
Came  the  carol  of  the  bird. 

And  the  charm  of  the  carol  rapt  me, 

As  I  held  as  if  by  their  hands  my  comrades  in  the 

night, 
And  the  voice  of  my  spirit  tallied  the  song  of  the 

bird. 

Come,  lovely  and  soothing  death, 
Undulate  round  the  world,  serenely  arriving,  ar 
riving, 

In  the  day,  in  the  night,  to  all,  to  each, 
Sooner  or  later,  delicate  death. 

Prais'd  be  the  fathomless  universe, 

For  life  and  joy,  and  for  objects  and  knowledge 
curious, 

And  for  love,  sweet  love  —  but  praise!  praise! 
praise ! 

For  the  sure-cnwinding  arms  of  cool-enfolding 
death. 

Dark  mother,  always  gliding  near  with  soft  feet, 

Have  none  chanted  for  thce  a  chant  of  fullest  wel 
come? 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  227 

Then  I  chant  it  for  thee,  I  glorify  thee  above  all, 
I  bring  thee  a  song  that  when  thou  must  indeed 
come,  come  unfalteringly. 

Approach,  strong  deliveress, 

When  it  is  so,  when  thou  hast  taken  them  I  joy 
ously  sing  the  dead, 

Lost  in  the  loving,  floating  ocean  of  thee, 
Laved  in  the  flood  of  thy  bliss,  O  death. 

From  me  to  thee,  glad  serenades, 

Dances  for  thee  I  propose  saluting  thee,  adorn 
ments  and  f eastings  for  thee, 

And  the  sights  of  the  open  landscape  and  the  high- 
spread  sky  are  fitting, 

And  life  and  the  fields,  and  the  huge  and  thought 
ful  night. 

The  night  in  silence  under  many  a  star, 

The  ocean  shore  and  the  husky  whispering  wave 
whose  voice  I  know, 

And  the  soul  turning  to  thee,  O  vast  and  w ell- 
veil' d  death, 

And  the  body  gratefully  nestling  close  to  thee. 

Over  the  tree-tops  I  float  thee  a  song, 

Over  the  rising  and  sinking  waves,  over  the  myriad 

fields  and  the  prairies  wide, 
Over  the  dense-pack' d  cities  all  and  the  teeming 

wharves  and  ways, 
I  float  this  carol  with  joy,  with  joy  to  thee,  O  death. 


228  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY, 

XV 

To  the  tally  of  my  soul, 

Loud  and  strong  kept  up  the  gray-brown  bird, 
With  pure   deliberate  notes   spreading,   filling  the 
night. 

Loud  in  the  pines  and  cedars  dim, 
Clear  in  the  freshness  moist  and  the  swamp-per 
fume, 
And  I  with  my  comrades  there  in  the  night. 

While  my  sight  that  was  bound  in  my  eyes  un 
closed, 
As  to  long  panoramas  of  visions. 

And  I  saw  askant  the  armies, 

I  saw  as  in  noiseless  dreams  hundreds  of  battle- 
flags, 

Borne  through  the  smoke  of  the  battles  and  pierc'd 
with  missiles  I  saw  them, 

And  carried  hither  and  yon  through  the  smoke, 
and  torn  and  bloody, 

And  at  last  but  a  few  shreds  left  on  the  staffs  (and 
all  in  silence), 

And  the  staffs  all  splinter'd  and  broken. 

I  saw  battle-corpses,  myriads  of  them, 

And  the  white  skeletons  of  young  men,  I  saw  them, 

I  saw  the  debris  and  debris  of  all  the  slain  soldiers 

of  the  war, 

But  I  saw  they  were  not  as  was  thought, 
They  themselves  were  fully  at  rest,  they  suffer'd 

not. 


WHEN  LILACS  BLOOM'D  229 

The  living  remain'd  and  suffered,  the  mother  suf- 

fer'd, 
And  the  armies  that  remain'd  suffer'd. 

XVI 

Passing  the  visions,  passing  the  night, 

Passing,  unloosing  the  hold  of  my  comrade's  hands, 

Passing  the  song  of  the  hermit  bird  and  the  tally 
ing  song  of  my  soul, 

Victorious  song,  death's  outlet  song,  yet  varying 
ever-altering  song, 

As  low  and  wailing,  yet  clear  the  notes,  rising  and 
falling,  flooding  the  night, 

Sadly  sinking  and  fainting,  as  warning  and  warn 
ing,  and  yet  again  bursting  with  joy, 

Covering  the  earth  and  filling  the  spread  of  the 
heaven, 

As  that  powerful  psalm  in  the  night  I  heard  from 
recesses, 

Passing,  I  leave  thee  lilac  with  heart-shaped  leaves, 

I  leave  thee  there  in  the  door-yard,  blooming,  re 
turning  with  spring. 

I  cease  from  song  for  thee, 

From  my  gaze  on  thee  in  the  west,  fronting  the 

west,  communing  with  thee, 
O  comrade  lustrous  with  silver  face  in  the  night. 

Yet  each  to  keep  and  all,  retrievements  out  of  the 

night, 
The  song,  the  wondrous  chant  of  the  grey-brown 

bird, 


230  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

And  the  tallying  chant,  the  echo  arous'd  in  my 
soul, 

With  the  lustrous  and  drooping  star  with  the  coun 
tenance  full  of  woe, 

With  the  holders  holding  my  hand  nearing  the  call 
of  the  bird, 

Comrades  mine  and  I  in  the  midst,  and  their  mem 
ory  ever  to  keep,  for  the  dead  I  loved  so  well, 

For  the  sweetest,  wisest  soul  of  all  my  days  and 
lands  —  and  this  for  his  dear  sake, 

Lilac  and  star  and  bird  twined  with  the  chant  of 
my  soul, 

There  in  the  fragrant  pines  and  cedars,  dusk  and 
dim. 


VII 

THE  WHOLE  MAN 


LINCOLN,  THE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE1 

BY    EDWIN    MARKHAM 

Revised  especially  for  this  'volume. 

When  the  Norn  Mother  saw  the  Whirlwind  Hour 
Greatening  and  darkening  as  it  hurried  on, 
She  left  the  Heaven  of  Heroes  and  came  down 
To  make  a  man  to  meet  the  mortal  need. 
She  took  the  tried  clay  of  the  common  road  — 
Clay  warm  yet  with  the  genial  heat  of  Earth, 
Dashed  through  it  all  a  strain  of  prophecy ; 
Tempered  the  heap  with  thrill  of  human  tears ; 
Then  mixed  a  laughter  with  the  serious  stuff. 
Into  the  shape  she  breathed  a  flame  to  light 
That  tender,  tragic,  ever-changing  face. 
Here  was  a  man  to  hold  against  the  world, 
A  man  to  match  the  mountains  and  the  sea. 

The  color  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth ; 
The  smack  and  smell  of  elemental  things  — 
The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  rocks ; 
The  good-will  of  the  rain  that  falls  for  all ; 
The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea ; 
The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn ; 
The  friendly  welcome  of  the  wayside  well ; 
The  mercy  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars ; 
The  undelaying  justice  of  the  light 
That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  flower 

1  All  rights  reserved  by  the  author. 
233 


234  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY. 

As  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind  — 
To  the  grave's  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 
That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

Born  of  the  ground, 

The  Great  West  nursed  him  on  her  rugged  knees. 
Her,  rigors  keyed  the  sinews  of  his  will; 
The  strength  of  virgin  forests  braced  his  mind ; 
The  hush  of  spacious  prairies  stilled  his  soul. 
The  tools  were  his  first  teachers,  kindly  stern. 
The  plow,  the  flail,  the  maul,  the  echoing  ax 
Taught  him  their  homely  wisdom,  and  their  peace. 
A  rage  for  knowledge  drove  his  restless  mind : 
He  fed  his  spirit  with  the  bread  of  books, 
He  slaked  his  thirst  at  all  the  wells  of  thought. 
Hunger  and  hardship,  penury  and  pain 
Waylaid  his  youth  and  wrestled  for  his  life. 
They  came  to  master,  but  he  made  them  serve. 

From  prairie  cabin  up  to  Capitol, 

One  fire  was  on  his  spirit,  one  resolve  — 

To  strike  the  stroke  that  rounds  the  perfect  star. 

The  grip  that  swung  the  ax  on  Sangamon 

Was  on  the  pen  that  spelled  Emancipation. 

He  built  the  rail-pile  as  he  built  the  State, 

Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 

The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke, 

To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 

So  came  the  Captain  with  the  thinking  heart; 
And  when  the  judgment  thunders  split  the  house, 
Wrenching  the  rafters  from  their  ancient  rest, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  235 

He  held  the  ridgepole  up,  and  spiked  again 
The  rafters  of  the  Home.     He  held  his  place  — 
Held  the  long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree  — 
Held  on  through  blame  and  faltered  not  at  praise. 
And  when  he  fell  in  whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  lordly  cedar  green  with  boughs 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills, 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  place  against  the  sky. 


From  the  Memorial  Address  to  Congress 
on  the 

LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

BY   GEORGE    BANCROFT 
Senators,  Representatives  of  America: 

That  God  rules  in  the  affairs  of  men  is  as  certain 
as  any  truth  of  physical  science.  On  the  great 
moving"  power  which  is  from  the  beginning  hangs 
the  world  of  the  senses  and  the  world  of  thought 
and  action.  Eternal  wisdom  marshals  the  great 
procession  of  the  nations,  working  in  patient  con 
tinuity  through  the  ages,  never  halting  and  never 
abrupt,  encompassing  all  events  in  its  oversight,  and 
ever  effecting  its  will,  though  mortals  may  slumber 
in  apathy  or  oppose  with  madness.  Kings  are  lifted 
up  or  thrown  down,  nations  come  and  go,  republics 
flourish  and  wither,  dynasties  pass  away  like  a 


236  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

tale  that  is  told;  but  nothing  is  by  chance,  though 
men,  in  their  ignorance  of  causes,  may  think  so. 
The  deeds  of  time  are  governed,  as  well  as  judged, 
by  the  decrees  of  eternity.  The  caprice  of  fleet 
ing  existences  bends  to  the  immovable  omnipo 
tence,  which  plants  its  foot  on  all  the  centuries  and 
has  neither  change  of  purpose  nor  repose.  Some 
times,  like  a  messenger  through  the  thick  darkness 
of  night,  it  steps  along  mysterious  ways ;  but  when 
the  hour  strikes  for  a  people,  or  for  mankind,  to 
pass  into  a  new  form  of  being,  unseen  hands  draw 
the  bolts  from  the  gates  of  futurity;  an  all-subsid 
ing  influence  prepares  the  minds  of  men  for  the 
coming  revolution ;  those  who  plan  resistance  find 
themselves  in  conflict  with  the  will  of  Providence 
rather  than  with  human  devices ;  and  all  hearts  and 
all  understandings,  most  of  all  the  opinions  and  in 
fluences  of  the  unwilling,  are  wonderfully  attracted 
and  compelled  to  bear  forward  the  change,  which 
becomes  more  an  obedience  to  the  law  of  universal 
nature  than  submission  to  the  arbitrament  of  man. 
In  the  fulness  of  time  a  republic  rose  up  in  the 
wilderness  of  America.  Thousands  of  years  had 
passed  away  before  this  child  of  the  ages  could  be 
born.  From  whatever  there  was  of  good  in  the 
systems  of  former  centuries  she  drew  her  nourish 
ment;  the  wrecks  of  the  past  were  her  warnings. 
With  the  deepest  sentiment  of  faith  fixed  in  her 
inmost  nature,  she  disenthralled  religion  from  bon 
dage  to  temporal  power,  that  her  worship  might 
be  worship  only  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  wis 
dom  which  had  passed  from  India  through  Greece, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  237 

with  what  Greece  had  added  of  her  own;  the 
jurisprudence  of  Rome;  the  mediaeval  municipali 
ties;  the  Teutonic  method  of  representation;  the 
political  experience  of  England ;  the  benignant  wis 
dom  of  the  expositors  of  the  law  of  nature  and  of 
nations  in  France  and  Holland,  all  shed  on  her 
their  selectest  influence.  She  washed  the  gold  of 
political  wisdom  from  the  sands  wherever  it  was 
found;  she  cleft  it  from  the  rocks;  she  gleaned  it 
among  ruins.  Out  of  all  the  discoveries  of  states 
men  and  sages,  out  of  all  the  experience  of  past 
human  life,  she  compiled  a  perennial  political  phi 
losophy,  the  primordial  principles  of  national  eth 
ics.  The  wise  men  of  Europe  sought  the  best 
government  in  a  mixture  of  monarchy,  aristocracy, 
and  democracy;  America  went  behind  these  names 
to  extract  from  them  the  vital  elements  of  social 
forms,  and  blend  them  harmoniously  in  the  free 
commonwealth,  which  comes  nearest  to  the  illus 
tration  of  the  natural  equality  of  all  men.  She 
intrusted  the  guardianship  of  established  rights  to 
law,  the  movements  of  reform  to  the  spirit  of  the 
people,  and  drew  her  force  from  the  happy  recon 
ciliation  of  both. 

Republics  had  heretofore  been  limited  to  small 
cantons,  or  cities  and  their  dependencies ;  America, 
doing  that  of  which  the  like  had  not  before  been 
known  upon  the  earth,  or  believed  by  kings  and 
statesmen  to  be  possible,  extended  her  republic 
across  a  continent.  Under  her  auspices  the  vine 
of  liberty  took  deep  root  and  rilled  the  land;  the 
hills  were  covered  with  its  shadow,  its  boughs  were 


238  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

like  the  goodly  cedars,  and  reached  unto  both 
oceans.  The  fame  of  this  only  daughter  of  free 
dom  went  out  into  all  the  lands  of  the  earth;  from 
her  the  human  race  drew  hope. 

Neither  hereditary  monarchy  nor  hereditary  ar 
istocracy  planted  itself  on  our  soil ;  the  only  heredi 
tary  condition  that  fastened  itself  upon  us  was 
servitude.  Nature  works  in  sincerity,  and  is  ever 
true  to  its  law.  The  bee  hives  honey;  the  viper 
distils  poison;  the  vine  stores  its  juices,  and  so  do 
the  poppy  and  the  upas.  In  like  manner  every 
thought  and  every  action  ripens  its  seed,  each  ac 
cording  to  its  kind.  In  the  individual  man,  and 
still  more  in  a  nation,  a  just  idea  gives  life,  and 
progress,  and  glory;  a  false  conception  portends 
disaster,  shame,  and  death.  A  hundred  and  twenty 
years  ago  a  West  Jersey  Quaker  wrote :  "  This 
trade  of  importing  slaves  is  dark  gloominess  hang 
ing  over  the  land ;  the  consequences  will  be  griev 
ous  to  posterity."  At  the  North  the  growth  of 
slavery  was  arrested  by  natural  causes ;  in  the  re 
gion  nearest  the  tropics  it  throve  rankly,  and 
worked  itself  into  the  organism  of  the  rising  States. 
Virginia  stood  between  the  two,  with  soil,  and 
climate,  and  resources  demanding  free  labor,  yet 
capable  of  the  profitable  employment  of  the  slave. 
She  was  the  land  of  great  statesmen,  and  they  saw 
the  danger  of  her  being  whelmed  under  the  rising 
flood  in  time  to  struggle  against  the  delusions  of 
avarice  and  pride.  Ninety-four  years  ago  the 
legislature  of  Virginia  addressed  the  British  king, 
saying  that  the  trade  in  slaves  was  "  of  great  in- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  239 

humanity,"  was  opposed  to  the  "  security  and  hap 
piness  "  of  their  constituents,  "  would  in  time  have 
the  most  destructive  influence,"  and  "  endanger  their 
very  existence."  And  the  king  answered  them 
that,  "  upon  pain  of  his  highest  displeasure,  the 
importation  of  slaves  should  not  be  in  any  respect 
obstructed."  "  Pharisaical  Britain,"  wrote  Frank 
lin  in  behalf  of  Virginia,  "  to  pride  thyself  in  set 
ting  free  a  single  slave  that  happened  to  land  on 
thy  coasts,  while  thy  laws  continue  a  traffic 
whereby  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  are 
dragged  into  a  slavery  that  is  entailed  on  their  pos 
terity."  "A  serious  view  of  this  subject,"  said 
Patrick  Henry  in  1773,  "  gives  a  gloomy  prospect 
to  future  times."  In  the  same  year  George  Mason 
wrote  to  the  legislature  of  Virginia :  "  The  laws  of 
impartial  Providence  may  avenge  our  injustice 
upon  our  posterity."  Comforming  his  conduct  to 
his  convictions,  Jefferson,  in  Virginia  and  in  the 
Continental  Congress,  with  the  approval  of  Ed 
mund  Pendleton,  branded  the  slave-trade  as  piracy ; 
and  he  fixed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
as  the  corner-stone  of  America :  "  All  men  are 
created  equal,  with  an  unalienable  right  to  liberty." 
On  the  first  organization  of  temporary  govern 
ments  for  the  continental  domain,  Jefferson,  but 
for  the  default  of  New  Jersey,  would,  in  1784, 
have  consecrated  every  part  of  that  territory  to 
freedom.  In  the  formation  of  the  national  Con 
stitution,  Virginia,  opposed  by  a  part  of  New  Eng 
land,  vainly  struggled  to  abolish  the  slave  trade 
at  once  and  forever;  and  when  the  ordinance  of 


240  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

1787  was  introduced  by  Nathan  Dane  without  the 
clause  prohibiting  slavery,  it  was  through  the  fa 
vorable  disposition  of  Virginia  and  the  South  that 
the  clause  of  Jefferson  was  restored,  and  the  whole 
northwestern  territory  —  all  the  territory  that  then 
belonged  to  the  nation  —  was  reserved  for  the 
labor  of  freemen. 

The  hope  prevailed  in  Virginia  that  the  abolition 
of  the  slave-trade  would  bring  with  it  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery;  but  the  expectation  was 
doomed  to  disappointment.  In  supporting  incipi 
ent  measures  for  emancipation,  Jefferson  encoun 
tered  difficulties  greater  than  he  could  overcome, 
and,  after  vain  wrestlings,  the  words  that  broke 
from  him,  "  I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I 
reflect  that  God  is  just,  that  His  justice  cannot 
sleep  forever,"  were  words  of  despair.  It  was  the 
desire  of  Washington's  heart  that  Virginia  should 
remove  slavery  by  a  public  act ;  and  as  the  pros 
pects  of  a  general  emancipation  grew  more  and 
more  dim,  he,  in  utter  hopelessness  of  the  action  of 
the  State,  did  all  that  he  could  by  bequeathing  free 
dom  to  his  own  slaves.  Good  and  true  men  had, 
from  the  days  of  1776,  suggested  the  colonizing  of 
the  negro  in  the  home  of  his  ancestors ;  but  the  idea 
of  colonization  was  thought  to  increase  the  difficulty 
of  emancipation,  and,  in  spite  of  strong  support, 
while  it  accomplished  much  good  for  Africa,  it 
proved  impracticable  as  a  remedy  at  home.  Madi 
son,  who  in  early  life  disliked  slavery  so  much  that 
he  wished  "  to  depend  as  little  as  possible  on  the 
labor  of  slaves  " ;  Madison,  who  held  that  where 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  241 

slavery  exists  "  the  republican  theory  becomes  falla 
cious  " ;  Madison,  who  in  the  last  years  of  his  life 
would  not  consent  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  lest 
his  countrymen  should  fill  it  with  slaves;  Madison, 
who  said,  "  slavery  is  the  greatest  evil  under  which 
the  nation  labors  —  a  portentous  evil  —  an  evil, 
moral,  political,  and  economical  —  a  sad  blot  on 
our  free  country  "  —  went  mournfully  into  old  age 
with  the  cheerless  words :  "  No  satisfactory  plan 
has  yet  been  devised  for  taking  out  the  stain." 

The  men  of  the  Revolution  passed  away;  a  new 
generation  sprang  up,  impatient  that  an  institution 
to  which  they  clung  should  be  condemned  as  in 
human,  unwise,  and  unjust.  In  the  throes  of  dis 
content  at  the  self-reproach  of  their  fathers,  and 
blinded  by  the  lustre  of  wealth  to  be  acquired  by 
the  culture  of  a  new  staple,  they  devised  the  theory 
that  slavery,  which  they  would  not  abolish,  was  not 
evil,  but  good.  They  turned  on  the  friends  of 
colonization,  and  confidently  demanded :  "  Why 
take  black  men  from  a  civilized  and  Christian 
country,  where  their  labor  is  a  source  of  immense 
gain,  and  a  power  to  control  the  markets  of  the 
world,  and  send  them  to  a  land  of  ignorance,  idol 
atry,  and  indolence,  which  was  the  home  of  their 
forefathers,  but  not  theirs?  Slavery  is  a  blessing. 
Were  they  not  in  their  ancestral  land  naked, 
scarcely  lifted  above  brutes,  ignorant  of  the  course 
of  the  sun,  controlled  by  nature?  And  in  their 
new  abode  have  they  not  been  taught  to  know  the 
difference  of  the  seasons,  to  plough,  and  plant,  and 
reap,  to  drive  oxen,  to  tame  the  horse,  to  exchange 


242  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

their  scanty  dialect  for  the  richest  of  all  the  lan 
guages  among  men,  and  the  stupid  adoration  of 
follies  for  the  purest  religion?  And  since  slavery 
is  good  for  the  blacks,  it  is  good  for  their  masters, 
bringing  opulence  and  the  opportunity  of  educat 
ing  a  race.  The  slavery  of  the  black  is  good  in  it 
self ;  he  shall  serve  the  white  man  forever."  And 
nature,  which  better  understood  the  quality  of 
fleeting  interest  and  passion,  laughed  as  it  caught 
the  echo,  "  man  "  and  "  forever !  " 

A  regular  development  of  pretensions  followed 
the  new  declaration  with  logical  consistency. 
Under  the  old  declaration  every  one  of  the  States 
had  retained,  each  for  itself,  the  right  of  manu 
mitting  all  slaves  by  an  ordinary  act  of  legislation ; 
now  the  power  of  the  people  over  servitude 
through  their  legislatures  was  curtailed,  and  the 
privileged  class  was  swift  in  imposing  legal  and 
constitutional  obstructions  of  the  people  themselves. 
The  power  of  emancipation  was  narrowed  or 
taken  away.  The  slave  might  not  be  disquieted 
by  education.  There  remained  an  unconfessed 
consciousness  that  the  system  of  bondage  was 
wrong,  and  a  restless  memory  that  it  was  at  vari 
ance  with  the  true  American  tradition;  its  safety 
was  therefore  to  be  secured  by  political  organiza 
tion.  The  generation  that  made  the  Constitution 
took  care  for  the  predominance  of  freedom  in  Con 
gress  by  the  ordinance  of  Jefferson ;  the  new  school 
aspired  to  secure  for  slavery  an  equality  of  votes 
in  the  Senate,  and  while  it  hinted  at  an  organic 
act  that  should  concede  to  the  collective  South  a 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  243 

veto  power  on  national  legislation,  it  assumed  that 
each  State  separately  had  the  right  to  revise  and 
nullify  laws  of  the  United  States,  according  to  the 
discretion  of  its  judgment. 

The  new  theory  hung  as  a  bias  on  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  country ;  there  could  be  no  recogni 
tion  of  Hayti,  nor  even  of  the  American  colony  of 
Liberia;  and  the  world  was  given  to  understand 
that  the  establishment  of  free  labor  in  Cuba  would 
be  a  reason  for  wresting  that  island  from  Spain. 
Territories  were  annexed  —  Louisiana,  Florida, 
Texas,  half  of  Mexico ;  slavery  must  have  its  share 
in  them  all,  and  it  accepted  for  a  time  a  dividing 
line  between  the  unquestioned  domain  of  free  labor 
and  that  in  which  involuntary  labor  was  to  be 
tolerated.  A  few  years  passed  away,  and  the  new 
school,  strong  and  arrogant,  demanded  and  re 
ceived  an  apology  for  applying  the  Jefferson  pro 
viso  to  Oregon. 

The  application  of  that  proviso  was  interrupted 
for  three  administrations,  but  justice  moved  steadily 
onward.  In  the  ne\vs  that  the  men  of  California 
had  chosen  freedom,  Calhoun  heard  the  knell  of 
parting  slavery,  and  on  his  deathbed  he  counseled 
secession.  Washington,  and  Jefferson,  and  Madi 
son  had  died  despairing  of  the  abolition  of  slavery ; 
Calhoun  died  in  despair  at  the  growth  of  freedom. 
His  system  rushed  irresistibly  to  its  natural  de 
velopment.  The  death-struggle  for  California  was 
followed  by  a  short  truce;  but  the  new  school  of 
politicians,  who  said  that  slavery  was  not  evil, 
but  good, .soon  sought  to  recover  the  ground  they 


244  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

had  lost,  and,  confident  of  securing  Kansas,  they 
demanded  that  the  established  line  in  the  Terri 
tories  between  freedom  and  slavery  should  be 
blotted  out.  The  country,  believing  in  the  strength 
and  enterprise  and  expansive  energy  of  freedom, 
made  answer,  though  reluctantly :  "  Be  it  so ;  let 
there  be  no  strife  between  brethren;  let  freedom 
and  slavery  compete  for  the  Territories  on  equal 
terms,  in  a  fair  field,  under  an  impartial  adminis 
tration  " ;  and  on  this  theory,  if  on  any,  the  con 
test  might  have  been  left  to  the  decision  of  time. 
The  South  started  back  in  appallment  from  its 
victory,  for  it  knew  that  a  fair  competition  fore 
boded  its  defeat.  But  where  could  it  now  find  an 
ally  to  save  it  from  its  own  mistake?  What  I 
have  next  to  say  is  spoken  with  no  emotion  but 
regret.  Our  meeting  to-day  is,  as  it  were,  at  the 
grave,  in  the  presence  of  eternity,  and  the  truth 
must  be  uttered  in  soberness  and  sincerity.  In  a 
great  republic,  as  was  observed  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago,  any  attempt  to  overturn  the 
state  owes  its  strength  to  aid  from  some  branch  of 
the  government.  The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  without  any  necessity  or  occasion,  volun 
teered  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  theory  of 
slavery ;  and  from  his  court  there  lay  no  appeal  but 
to  the  bar  of  humanity  and  history.  Against  the 
Constitution,  against  the  memory  of  the  nation, 
against  a  previous  decision,  against  a  series  of 
enactments,  he  decided  that  the  slave  is  property; 
that  slave  property  is  entitled  to  no  less  protection 
than  any  other  property;  that  the  Constitution  up- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  245 

holds  it  in  every  Territory  against  any  act  of  a 
local  legislature,  and  even  against  Congress  itself; 
or,  as  the  President  for  that  term  tersely  promul 
gated  the  saying,  "  Kansas  is  as  much  a  slave  State 
as  South  Carolina  or  Georgia;  slavery,  by  virtue 
of  the  Constitution,  exists  in  every  Territory." 
The  municipal  character  of  slavery  being  thus 
taken  away,  and  slave  property  decreed  to  be 
"  sacred,"  the  authority  of  the  courts  was  invoked 
to  introduce  it  by  the  comity  of  law  into  States 
where  slavery  had  been  abolished,  and  in  one  of 
the  courts  of  the  United  States  a  judge  pro 
nounced  the  African  slave-trade  legitimate,  and 
numerous  and  powerful  advocates  demanded  its 
restoration. 

Moreover,  the  Chief  Justice,  in  his  elaborate 
opinion,  announced  what  had  never  been  heard 
from  any  magistrate  of  Greece  or  Rome ;  what  was 
unknown  to  civil  law,  and  canon  law,  and  feudal 
law,  and  common  law,  and  constitutional  law ;  un 
known  to  Jay,  to  Rutledge,  Ellsworth  and  Mar 
shall  —  that  there  are  "  slave  races."  The  spirit 
of  evil  is  intensely  logical.  Having  the  authority 
of  this  decision,  five  States  swiftly  followed  the 
earlier  example  of  a  sixth,  and  opened  the  way  for 
reducing  the  free  negro  to  bondage ;  the  migrating 
free  negro  became  a  slave  if  he  but  entered  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  a  seventh;  and  an  eighth,  from 
its  extent,  and  soil,  and  mineral  resources,  destined 
to  incalculable  greatness,  closed  its  eyes  on  its  com 
ing  prosperity,  and  enacted,  as  by  Taney's  dictum 
it  had  the  right  to  do,  that  every  free  black  man 


246  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

who  would  live  within  its  limits  must  accept  the 
condition  of  slavery  for  himself  and  his  posterity. 

Only  one  step  more  remained  to  be  taken.  Jef 
ferson  and  the  leading  statesmen  of  his  day  held 
fast  to  the  idea  that  the  enslavement  of  the  African 
was  socially,  morally  and  politically  wrong.  The 
new  school  was  founded  exactly  upon  the  opposite 
idea;  and  they  resolved,  first,  to  distract  the  demo 
cratic  party,  for  which  the  Supreme  Court  had 
now  furnished  the  means,  and  then  to  establish  a 
new  government,  with  negro  slavery  for  its  corner 
stone,  as  socially,  morally,  and  politically  right. 

As  the  Presidential  election  drew  on,  one  of  the 
great  traditional  parties  did  not  make  its  appear 
ance;  the  other  reeled  as  it  sought  to  preserve  its 
old  position,  and  the  candidate  who  most  nearly 
represented  its  best  opinion,  driven  by  patriotic 
zeal,  roamed  the  country  from  end  to  end  to  speak 
for  union,  eager,  at  least,  to  confront  its  enemies, 
yet  not  having  hope  that  it  would  find  its  deliver 
ance  through  him.  The  storm  rose  to  a  whirl 
wind  ;  who  would  allay  its  wrath  ?  The  most  ex 
perienced  statesmen  of  the  country  had  failed ; 
there  was  no  hope  from  those  who  were  great  after 
the  flesh :  could  relief  come  from  one  whose  wis 
dom  was  like  the  wisdom  of  little  children? 

The  choice  of  America  fell  on  a  man  born  west 
of  the  Alleghenies,  in  the  cabin  of  poor  people  of 
Hardin  county,  Kentucky  —  ABRAHAM  LIN 
COLN. 

His  mother  could  read,  but  not  write ;  his  father 
would  do  neither;  but  his  parents  sent  him,  with 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  247 

an  old  spelling-book,  to  school,  and  he  learned  in 
his  childhood  to  do  both. 

When  eight  years  old  he  floated  down  the  Ohio 
with  his  father  on  a  raft,  which  bore  the  family 
and  all  their  possessions  to  the  shore  of  Indiana ; 
and,  child  as  he  was,  he  gave  help  as  they  toiled 
through  dense  forests  to  the  interior  of  Spencer 
County.  There,  in  the  land  of  free  labor,  he  grew 
up  in  a  log-cabin,  with  the  solemn  solitude  for  his 
teacher  in  his  meditative  hours.  Of  Asiatic  litera 
ture  he  knew  only  the  Bible ;  of  Greek,  Latin,  and 
mediaeval,  no  more  than  the  translation  of  yEsop's 
Fables ;  of  English,  John  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Prog 
ress.  The  traditions  of  George  Fox  and  William 
Penn  passed  to  him  dimly  along  the  lines  of  two 
centuries  through  his  ancestors,  who  were  Quakers. 

Otherwise  his  education  was  altogether  Ameri 
can.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  his 
compendium  of  political  wisdom,  the  Life  of  Wash 
ington  his  constant  study,  and  something  of  Jeffer 
son  and  Madison  reached  him  through  Henry  Clay, 
whom  he  honored  from  boyhood.  For  the  rest, 
from  day  to  day,  he  lived  the  life  of  the  American 
people,  walked  in  its  light,  reasoned  with  its  reason, 
thought  with  its  power  of  thought,  felt  the  beat 
ings  of  its  mighty  heart,  and  so  was  in  every  way 
a  child  of  nature,  a  child  of  the  West,  a  child  of 
America. 

At  nineteen,  feeling  impulses  of  ambition  to  get 
on  in  the  world,  he  engaged  himself  to  go  down 
the  Mississippi  in  a  flatboat,  receiving  ten  dollars 
a  month  for  his  wages,  and  afterwards  he  made 


248  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  trip  once  more.  At  twenty-one  he  drove  his 
father's  cattle  as  the  family  migrated  to  Illinois, 
and  split  rails  to  fence  in  the  new  homestead  in  the 
wild.  At  twenty-three  he  was  a  captain  of  volun 
teers  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  kept  a  store. 
He  learned  something  of  surveying,  but  of  English 
literature  he  added  to  Bunyan  nothing  but  Shake 
speare's  plays.  At  twenty-five  he  was  elected  to 
the  legislature  of  Illinois,  where  he  served  eight 
years.  At  twenty-seven  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  In  1837  he  chose  his  home  in  Springfield,  the 
beautiful  centre  of  the  richest  land  in  the  State. 
In  1847  ne  was  a  member  of  the  national  Congress, 
where  he  voted  about  forty  times  in  favor  of  the 
principle  of  the  Jefferson  proviso.  In  1849  he 
sought,  eagerly  but  unsuccessfully,  the  place  of 
Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office,  and  he  refused 
an  appointment  that  would  have  transferred  his 
residence  to  Oregon.  In  1854  he  gave  his  influ 
ence  to  elect  from  Illinois,  to  the  American  Senate, 
a  Democrat,  who  would  certainly  do  justice  to 
Kansas.  In  1858,  as  the  rival  of  Douglas,  he  went 
before  the  people  of  the  mighty  Prairie  State,  say 
ing,  "  This  Union  cannot  permanently  endure  half 
slave  and  half  free ;  the  Union  will  not  be  dissolved, 
but  the  house  will  cease  to  be  divided  " ;  and  now, 
in  1 86 1,  with  no  experience  whatever  as  an  exec 
utive  officer,  while  States  were  madly  flying  from 
their  orbit,  and  wise  men  knew  not  where  to  find 
counsel,  this  descendant  of  Quakers,  this  pupil  of 
Bunyan,  this  offspring  of  the  great  West,  was 
elected  President  of  America. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  249 

He  measured  the  difficulty  of  the  duty  that  de 
volved  upon  him,  and  was  resolved  to  fulfil  it. 
As  on  the  eleventh  of  February,  1861,  he  left 
Springfield,  which  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  had 
been  his  happy  home,  to  the  crowd  of  his  friends 
and  neighbors,  whom  he  was  never  more  to  meet, 
he  spoke  a  solemn  farewell :  "  I  know  not  how 
soon  I  shall  see  you  again.  A  duty  has  devolved 
upon  me,  greater  than  that  which  has  devolved 
upon  any  other  man  since  Washington.  He  never 
would  have  succeeded,  except  for  the  aid  of  Di 
vine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied. 
On  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance. 
Pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assistance, 
without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  which 
success  is  certain."  To  the  men  of  Indiana  he 
said :  "  I  am  but  an  accidental,  temporary  instru 
ment  ;  it  is  your  business  to  rise  up  and  preserve 
the  Union  and  liberty."  At  the  capital  of  Ohio  he 
said :  "  Without  a  name,  without  a  reason  why 
I  should  have  a  name,  there  has  fallen  upon  me  a 
task  such  as  did  not  rest  even  upon  the  Father 
of  his  country."  At  various  places  in  New  York, 
especially  at  Albany,  before  the  legislature,  which 
tendered  him  the  united  support  of  the  great  Em 
pire  State,  he  said :  "  W'hile  I  hold  myself  the 
humblest  of  all  the  individuals  who  have  ever  been 
elevated  to  the  Presidency,  I  have  a  more  difficult 
task  to  perform  than  any  of  them.  .  I  bring  a  true 
heart  to  the  work.  I  must  rely  upon  the  people  of 
the  whole  country  for  support,  and  with  their  sus 
taining  aid,  even  I,  humble  as  I  am,  cannot  fail  to 


250  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

carry  the  ship  of  state  safely  through  the  storm." 
To  the  assembly  of  New  Jersey,  at  Trenton,  he  ex 
plained  :  "  I  shall  take  the  ground  I  deem  most 
just  to  the  North,  the  East,  the  West,  the  South, 
and  the  whole  country,  in  good  temper,  certainly 
with  no  malice  to  any  section.  I  am  devoted  to 
peace,  but  it  may  be  necessary  to  put  the  foot  down 
firmly."  In  the  old  Independence  Hall,  of  Phila 
delphia,  he  said :  "  I  have  never  had  a  feeling 
politically  that  did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this 
country,  but  to  the  world  in  all  future  time.  If 
the  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that 
principle,  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  the 
spot  than  surrender  it.  I  have  said  nothing  but 
what  I  am  willing  to  live  and  die  by." 

Travelling,  in  the  dead  of  night  to  escape 
assassination,  LINCOLN  arrived  at  Washington 
nine  days  before  his  inauguration.  The  outgoing 
President,  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of  Con 
gress,  had  still  kept  as  the  majority  of  his  advisors 
men  engaged  in  treason ;  had  declared  that  in  case 
of  even  an  "  imaginary "  apprehension  of  danger 
from  notions  of  freedom  among  the  slaves,  "  dis 
union  would  become  inevitable."  LINCOLN  and 
others  had  questioned  the  opinion  of  Taney ;  such 
impugning  he  ascribed  to  the  "  factious  temper  of 
the  times."  The  favorite  doctrine  of  the  majority 
of  the  Democratic  party  on  the  power  of  a  terri 
torial  legislature  over  slavery  he  condemned  as  an 
attack  on  "  the  sacred  rights  of  property."  The 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  251 

State  legislature,  he  insisted,  must  repeal  what  he 
called  "  their  unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  en 
actments,"  and  which,  if  such,  were  "  null  and 
void  "  or  "  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  human 
power  to  save  the  Union."  Nay !  if  these  unim 
portant  acts  were  not  repealed,  "  the  injured  States 
would  be  justified  in  revolutionary  resistance  to 
the  government  of  the  Union."  He  maintained 
that  no  State  might  secede  at  its  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure ;  that  the  Union  was  meant  for  per 
petuity,  and  that  Congress  might  attempt  to  pre 
serve  it,  but  only  by  conciliation ;  that  "  the  sword 
was  not  placed  in  their  hands  to  preserve  it  by 
force  " ;  that  "  the  last  desperate  remedy  of  a  de 
spairing  people  "  would  be  an  explanatory  amend 
ment  recognizing  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States."  The  American  Union 
he  called  "  a  confederacy "  of  States,  and  he 
thought  it  a  duty  to  make  the  appeal  for  the 
amendment  "  before  any  of  these  States  should 
separate  themselves  from  the  Union."  The  views 
of  the  Lieutenant-General,  containing  some  pa 
triotic  advice,  "  conceded  the  right  of  secession," 
pronounced  a  quadruple  rupture  of  the  Union  "  a 
smaller  evil  than  the  reuniting  of  the  fragments  by 
the  sword,"  and  "  eschewed  the  idea  of  invading 
a  seceded  State."  After  changes  in  the  Cabinet, 
the  President  informed  Congress  that  "matters 
were  still  worse  " ;  that  "  the  South  suffered  seri 
ous  grievances,"  which  should  be  redressed  "  in 
peace."  The  day  after  this  message  the  flag  of  the 
Union  was  fired  upon  from  Fort  Morris,  and  the 


252  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

insult  was  not  revenged  or  noticed.  Senators  in 
Congress  telegraphed  to  their  constituents  to  seize 
the  national  forts,  and  they  were  not  arrested. 
The  finances  of  the  country  were  grievously  em 
barrassed.  Its  little  army  was  not  within  reach ; 
the  part  of  it  in  Texas,  with  all  its  stores,  was 
made  over  by  its  commander  to  rebels.  One 
State  after  another  voted  in  convention  to  secede. 
A  peace  congress,  so  called,  met  at  the  request  of 
Virginia,  to  concert  the  terms  of  a  capitulation 
which  should  secure  permission  for  the  continu 
ance  of  the  Union.  Congress,  in  both  branches, 
sought  to  devise  conciliatory  expedients ;  the  terri 
tories  of  the  country  were  organized  in  a  manner 
not  to  conflict  with  any  pretensions  of  the  South, 
or  any  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court;  and,  never 
theless,  the  representatives  of  the  rebellion  formed 
at  Montgomery  a  provisional  government,  and 
pursued  their  relentless  purpose  with  such  success 
that  the  Lieutenant-General  feared  the  city  of 
Washington  might  find  itself  "  included  in  a  for 
eign  country,"  and  proposed,  among  the  options 
for  the  consideration  of  LINCOLN,  to  bid  the 
wayward  States  "  depart  in  peace."  The  great  re 
public  appeared  to  have  its  emblem  in  the  vast  un 
finished  Capitol,  at  that  moment  surrounded  by 
masses  of  stone  and  prostrate  columns  never  yet 
lifted  into  their  places,  seemingly  the  moment  of 
high  but  delusive  aspirations,  the  confused  wreck 
of  inchoate  magnificence,  sadder  than  any  ruin 
of  Egyptain  Thebes  or  Athens. 

The   fourth   of   March   came.     With   instinctive 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  253 

wisdom  the  new  President,  speaking-  to  the  people 
on  taking  the  oath  of  office,  put  aside  every  ques 
tion  that  divided  the  country,  and  gained  a  right  to 
universal  support  by  planting  himself  on  the  single 
idea  of  Union.  The  Union  he  declared  to  be  un 
broken  and  perpetual,  and  he  announced  his  de 
termination  to  fulfil  "  the  simple  duty  of  taking 
care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States."  Seven  days  later,  the  convention  of  Con 
federate  States  unanimously  adopted  a  constitu 
tion  of  their  own,  and  the  new  government  was 
authoritatively  announced  to  be  founded  on  the 
idea  that  the  negro  race  is  a  slave  race ;  that  slavery 
is  its  natural  and  normal  condition.  The  issue  was 
made  up,  whether  the  great  republic  was  to  main 
tain  its  providential  place  in  the  history  of  man 
kind,  or  a  rebellion  founded  on  negro  slavery  gain 
a  recognition  of  its  principle  throughout  the  civil 
ized  world.  To  the  disaffected  LINCOLN  had 
said,  "  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being 
yourselves  the  aggressors."  To  fire  the  passions 
of  the  southern  portion  of  the  people,  the  confed 
erate  government  chose  to  become  aggressors,  and, 
on  the  morning  of  the  twelfth  of  April,  began  the 
bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  compelled  its 
evacuation. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  late  President  that  he  had 
perfect  faith  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  Sup 
ported  in  advance  by  Douglas,  who  spoke  as  with 
the  voice  of  a  million,  he  instantly  called  a  meeting 
of  Congress,  and  summoned  the  people  to  come  up 
and  repossess  the  forts,  places,  and  property  which 


254  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

had  been  seized  from  the  Union.  The  men  of  the 
North  were  trained  in  schools;  industrious  and 
frugal;  many  of  them  delicately  bred,  their  minds 
teeming  with  ideas  and  fertile  in  plans  of  enter 
prise  ;  given  to  the  culture  of  the  arts ;  eager  in  the 
pursuit  of  wealth,  yet  employing  wealth  less  for 
ostentation  than  for  developing  the  resources  of 
their  country ;  seeking  happiness  in  the  calm  of 
domestic  life;  and  such  lovers  of  peace,  that  for 
generations  they  had  been  reputed  unwarlike. 
Now,  at  the  cry  of  their  country  in  its  distress, 
they  rose  up  with  unappeasable  patriotism ;  not 
hirelings  —  the  purest  and  the  best  blood  in  the 
land.  Sons  of  a  pious  ancestry,  with  a  clear 
perception  of  duty,  unclouded  faith  and  fixed  re 
solve  to  succeed,  they  thronged  around  the  Presi 
dent,  to  support  the  wronged,  the  beautiful  flag  of 
the  nation.  The  halls  of  theological  seminaries 
sent  forth  their  young  men,  whose  lips  were 
touched  with  eloquence,  whose  hearts  kindled  with 
devotion,  to  serve  in  the  ranks,  and  make  their  way 
to  command  only  as  they  learned  the  art  of  war. 
Striplings  in  the  colleges,  as  well  the  most  gentle 
and  the  most  studious,  those  of  sweetest  temper 
and  loveliest  character  and  brightest  genuis,  passed 
from  their  classes  to  the  camp.  The  lumbermen 
from  the  forests,  the  mechanics  from  their  benches, 
where  they  had  been  trained,  by  the  exercise  of 
political  rights,  to  share  the  life  and  hope  of  the 
republic,  to  feel  their  responsibility  to  their  fore 
fathers,  their  posterity  and  mankind,  went  to  the 
front,  resolved  that  their  dignity,  as  a  constituent 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  255 

part  of  this  republic,  should  not  be  impaired. 
Farmers  and  sons  of  farmers  left  the  land  but  half 
ploughed,  the  grain  but  half  planted,  and,  taking 
up  the  musket,  learned  to  face  without  fear  the 
presence  of  peril  and  the  coming  of  death  in  the 
shocks  of  war,  while  their  hearts  were  still  at 
tracted  to  their  herds  and  fields,  and  all  the  tender 
affections  of  home.  Whatever  there  was  of  truth 
and  faith  and  public  love  in  the  common  heart, 
broke  out  with  one  expression.  The  mighty  winds 
blew  from  every  quarter,  to  fan  the  flame  of  the 
sacred  and  unquenchable  fire. 

For  a  time  the  war  was  thought  to  be  confined 
to  our  own  domestic  affairs,  but  it  was  soon  seen 
that  it  involved  the  destinies  of  mankind ;  its  prin 
ciples  and  causes  shook  the  politics  of  Europe  to 
the  centre,  and  from  Lisbon  to  Pekin  divided  the 
governments  of  the  world. 

There  was  a  kingdom  whose  people  had  in  an 
eminent  degree  attained  to  freedom  of  industry 
and  the  security  of  person  and  property.  Its  mid 
dle  class  rose  to  greatness.  Out  of  that  class 
sprung  the  noblest  poets  and  philosophers,  whose 
words  built  up  the  intellect  of  its  people ;  skilful 
navigators,  to  find  out  for  its  merchants  the  many 
paths  of  the  oceans ;  discoverers  in  natural  science, 
whose  inventions  guided  its  industry  to  wealth, 
till  it  equalled  any  nation  of  the  world  in  letters, 
and  excelled  all  in  trade  and  commerce.  But  its 
government  was  become  a  government  of  land,  and 
not  of  men ;  every  blade  of  grass  was  represented, 
but  only  a  small  minority  of  the  people.  In  the 


256  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

transition  from  the  feudal  forms  the  heads  of  the 
social  organization  freed  themselves  from  the  mili 
tary  services  which  were  the  conditions  of  their 
tenure,  and,  throwing  the  burden  on  the  industrial 
classes,  kept  all  the  soil  to  themselves.  Vast  es 
tates  that  had  been  managed  by  monasteries  as 
endowments  for  religion  and  charity  were  im- 
propriated  to  swell  the  wealth  of  courtiers  and  fa 
vorites  ;  and  the  commons,  where  the  poor  man 
once  had  his  right  of  pasture,  were  taken  away, 
and,  under  forms  of  law,  enclosed  distributively 
within  the  domains  of  the  adjacent  landholders. 
Although  no  law  forbade  any  inhabitant  from  pur 
chasing  land,  the  costliness  of  the  transfer  con 
stituted  a  prohibition ;  so  that  it  was  the  rule  of  the 
country  that  the  plough  should  not  be  in  the  hands 
of  its  owner.  The  Church  was  rested  on  a  con 
tradiction  ;  claiming  to  be  an  embodiment  of  ab 
solute  truth,  it  was  a  creature  of  the  statute- 
book. 

The  progress  of  time  increased  the  terrible  con 
trast  between  wealth  and  poverty.  In  their  years 
of  strength  the  laboring  people,  cut  off  from  all 
share  in  governing  that  state,  derived  a  scant  sup 
port  from  the  severest  toil,  and  had  no  hope  for 
old  age  but  in  public  charity  or  death.  A  grasp 
ing  ambition  had  dotted  the  world  with  military 
posts,  kept  watch  over  our  borders  on  the  north 
east,  at  the  Bermudas,  in  the  West  Indies,  appro 
priated  the  gates  of  the  Pacific,  of  the  Southern 
and  of  the  Indian  ocean,  hovered  on  our  north 
west  at  Vancouver,  held  the  whole  of  the  newest 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  257 

continent,  and  the  entrances  to  the  old  Mediter 
ranean  and  Red  Sea,  and  garrisoned  forts  all  the 
way  from  Madras  to  China.  That  aristocracy  had 
gazed  with  terror  on  the  growth  of  a  common 
wealth  where  freeholders  existed  by  the  million, 
and  religion  was  not  in  bondage  to  the  state,  and 
now  they  could  not  repress  their  joy  at  its  perils. 
They  had  not  one  word  of  sympathy  for  the  kind- 
hearted  poor  man's  son  whom  America  had  chosen 
for  her  chief;  they  jeered  at  his  large  hands,  and 
long  feet,  and  ungainly  stature ;  and  the  British 
secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs  made  haste 
to  send  word  through  the  places  of  Europe  that 
the  great  republic  was  in  its  agony ;  that  the  re 
public  was  no  more ;  that  a  headstone  was  all  that 
remained  due  by  the  law  of  nations  to  "  the  late 
Union."  But  it  is  written,  "  Let  the  dead  bury 
their  dead  " ;  they  may  not  bury  the  living.  Let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead ;  let  a  bill  of  reform  re 
move  the  worn-out  government  of  a  class,  and  in 
fuse  new  life  into  the  British  constitution  by  con 
fiding  rightful  power  to  the  people. 

But  while  the  vitality  of  America  is  indestructi 
ble,  the  British  government  hurried  to  do  what 
never  before  had  been  done  by  Christian  powers ; 
what  was  in  direct  conflict  with  its  own  exposition 
of  public  law  in  the  time  of  our  struggle  for  inde 
pendence.  Though  the  insurgent  States  had  not 
a  ship  in  an  open  harbor,  it  invested  them  with  all 
the  rights  of  a  belligerent,  even  on  the  ocean ;  and 
this,  too,  when  the  rebellion  was  not  only  directed 
against  the  gentlest  and  most  beneficent  govern- 


258  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ment  on  earth,  without  a  shadow  of  justifiable 
cause,  but  when  the  rebellion  was  directed  against 
human  nature  itself  for  the  perpetual  enslavement 
of  a  race.  And  the  effect  of  this  recognition  was, 
that  acts  in  themselves  piratical  found  shelter  in 
British  courts  of  law.  The  resources  of  British 
capitalists,  their  workshops,  their  armories,  their 
private  arsenals,  their  shipyards,  were  in  league 
with  the  insurgents,  and  every  British  harbor  in 
the  wide  world  became  a  safe  port  for  British 
ships,  manned  by  British  sailors,  and  armed  with 
British  guns,  to  prey  on  our  peaceful  commerce ; 
even  on  our  ships  coming  from  British  ports, 
freighted  with  British  products,  or  that  had  carried 
gifts  of  grain  to  the  English  poor.  The  prime 
minister,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  sustained  by 
cheers,  scoffed  at  the  thought  that  their  laws  could 
be  amended  at  our  request,  so  as  to  preserve  real 
neutrality;  and  to  remonstrances,  now  owned  to 
have  been  just,  their  secretary  of  state  answered 
that  they  could  not  change  their  laws  ad  infinitum. 
The  people  of  America  then  wished,  as  they  al 
ways  have  wished,  as  they  still  wish,  friendly  re 
lations  with  England,  and  no  man  in  England  or 
America  can  desire  it  more  strongly  than  I.  This 
country  has  always  yearned  for  good  relations  with 
England.  Thrice  only  in  all  its  history  has  that 
yearning  been  fairly  met :  in  the  days  of  Hampden 
and  Cromwell,  again  in  the  first  ministry  of  the 
elder  Pitt,  and  once  again  in  the  ministry  of  Shel- 
burne.  Not  that  there  have  not  at  all  times  been 
just  men  among  the  peers  of  Britain  —  like  Hali- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  259 

fax  in  the  days  of  James  the  Second,  or  a  Gran- 
ville,  an  Argyll,  or  a  Houghton  in  ours ;  and  we 
cannot  be  indifferent  to  a  country  that  produces 
statesmen  like  Cobden  and  Bright;  but  the  best 
bower  anchor  of  peace  was  the  working  class  of 
England,  who  suffered  most  from  our  civil  war, 
but  who,  while  they  broke  their  diminished  bread 
in  sorrow,  always  encouraged  us  to  persevere. 

The  act  of  recognizing  the  rebel  belligerents  was 
concerted  with  France  —  France,  so  beloved  in 
America,  on  which  she  had  conferred  the  greatest 
benefits  that  one  people  ever  conferred  on  another ; 
France,  which  stands  foremost  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  for  the  solidity  of  her  culture,  as  well  as 
for  the  bravery  and  generous  impulses  of  her  sons ; 
France,  which  for  centuries  had  been  moving 
steadily  in  her  own  way  towards  intellectual  and 
political  freedom.  The  policy  regarding  further 
colonization  of  America  by  European  powers, 
known  commonly  as  the  doctrine  of  Monroe,  had 
its  origin  in  France,  and  if  it  takes  any  man's 
name,  should  bear  the  name  of  Turgot.  It  was 
adopted  by  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  in  the  cabinet  of 
which  Vergennes  was  the  most  important  member. 
It  is  emphatically  the  policy  of  France,  to  which, 
with  transient  deviations,  the  Bourbons,  the  first 
Napoleon,  the  House  of  Orleans  have  adherred. 

The  late  President  was  perpetually  harassed  by 
rumors  that  the  Emperor  Napoleon  the  Third  de 
sired  formally  to  recognize  the  States  in  rebellion 
as  an  independent  power,  and  that  England  held 
him  back  by  her  reluctance,  or  France  by  her  tra- 


2<5o  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ditions  of  freedom,  or  he  himself  by  his  own  better 
judgment  and  clear  perception  of  events.  But  the 
republic  of  Mexico,  on  our  borders,  was,  like  our 
selves,  distracted  by  a  rebellion,  and  from  a  similar 
cause.  The  monarchy  of  England  had  fastened 
upon  us  slavery  which  did  not  disappear  with  in 
dependence  ;  in  like  manner,  the  ecclesiastical  policy 
established  by  the  Spanish  council  of  the  Indies, 
in  the  days  of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the 
Second,  retained  its  vigor  in  the  Mexican  republic. 
The  fifty  years  of  civil  war  under  which  she 
had  languished  was  due  to  the  bigoted  system 
which  was  the  legacy  of  monarchy,  just  as  here 
the  inheritance  of  slavery  kept  alive  political  strife, 
and  culminated  in  civil  war.  As  with  us  there 
could  be  no  quiet  but  through  the  end  of  slavery, 
so  in  Mexico  there  could  be  no  prosperity  until 
the  crushing  tyranny  of  intolerance  should  cease. 
The  party  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  sent 
their  emissaries  to  Europe  to  solicit  aid ;  and  so 
did  the  party  of  the  Church  in  Mexico,  as  organized 
by  the  old  Spanish  council  of  the  Indies,  but  with 
a  different  result.  Just  as  the  Republican  party 
had  made  an  end  of  the  rebellion,  and  was  es 
tablishing  the  best  government  ever  known  in  that 
region,  and  giving  promise  to  the  nation  of  order, 
peace,  and  prosperity,  word  was  brought  us,  in  the 
moment  of  our  deepest  affliction,  that  the  French 
Emperor,  moved  by  a  desire  to  erect  in  North 
America  a  buttress  for  imperialism,  would  trans 
form  the  republic  of  Mexico  into  a  secundo-geni- 
ture  for  the  House  of  Hapsburg.  America  might 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  261 

complain;  she  could  not  then  interpose,  and  delay 
seemed  justifiable.  It  was  seen  that  Mexico  could 
not,  with  all  its  wealth  of  land,  compete  in  cereal 
products  with  our  northwest,  nor  in  tropical  prod 
ucts  with  Cuba,  nor  could  it,  under  a  disputed 
dynasty,  attract  capital,  or  create  public  works,  or 
develop  mines,  or  borrow  money;  so  that  the  im 
perial  system  of  Mexico,  which  was  forced  at  once 
to  recognize  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  the  re 
public  by  adopting  it,  could  prove  only  an  unre- 
munerating  drain  on  the  French  treasury  for  the 
support  of  an  Austrian  adventurer. 

Meantime  a  new  series  of  momentous  questions 
grows  up,  and  forces  itself  on  the  consideration  of 
the  thoughtful.  Republicanism  has  learned  how 
to  introduce  into  its  constitution  every  element  of 
order,  as  well  as  every  element  of  freedom ;  but 
thus  far  the  continuity  of  its  government  has 
seemed  to  depend  on  the  continuity  of  elections.  It 
is  now  to  be  considered  how  perpetuity  is  to  be  se 
cured  against  foreign  occupation.  The  successor 
of  Charles  the  First  of  England  dated  his  reign 
from  the  death  of  his  father;  the  Bourbons,  com 
ing  back  after  a  long  series  of  revolutions,  claimed 
that  the  Louis  who  became  king  was  the  eighteenth 
of  that  name.  The  present  Emperor  of  the 
French,  disdaining  a  title  from  election  alone,  calls 
himself  Napoleon  the  Third.  Shall  a  republic 
have  less  power  of  continuance  when  invading 
armies  prevent  a  peaceful  resort  to  the  ballot-box? 
What  force  shall  it  attach  to  intervening  legisla 
tion?  What  validity  to  debts  contracted  for  its 


262  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

overthrow?  These  momentous  questions  are,  by 
the  invasion  of  Mexico,  thrown  up  for  solution. 
A  free  State  once  truly  constituted  should  be  as 
undying  as  its  people :  the  republic  of  Mexico  must 
rise  again. 

It  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Mexico  that  in 
volved  the  Pope  of  Rome  in  our  difficulties  so  far 
that  he  alone  among  sovereigns  recognized  the 
chief  of  the  Confederate  States  as  a  president,  and 
his  supporters  as  a  people ;  and  in  letters  to  two 
great  prelates  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States  gave  counsels  for  peace  at  a  time  when  peace 
meant  the  victory  of  secession.  Yet  events  move 
as  they  are  ordered.  The  blessing  of  the  Pope  at 
Rome  on  the  head  of  Duke  Maximilian  could  not 
revive  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  ecclesiastical 
policy  of  the  sixteenth,  and  the  result  is  only  a  new 
proof  that  there  can  be  no  prosperity  in  the  State 
without  religious  freedom. 

When  it  came  home  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
Americans  that  the  war  which  they  were  waging 
was  a  war  for  the  liberty  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
world,  for  freedom  itself,  they  thanked  God  for 
giving  them  strength  to  endure  the  severity  of  the 
trial  to  which  He  put  their  sincerity,  and  nerved 
themselves  for  their  duty  with  an  inexorable  will. 
The  President  was  led  along  by  the  greatness  of 
their  self-sacrificing  example,  and  as  a  child,  in 
a  dark  night,  on  a  rugged  way,  catches  hold  of  the 
hand  of  its  father  for  guidance  and  support,  he 
clung  fast  to  the  hand  of  the  people,  and  moved 
calmly  through  the  gloom.  While  the  statesman- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  263 

ship  of  Europe  was  mocking  at  the  hopeless  vanity 
of  their  efforts,  they  put  forth  such  miracles  of 
energy  as  the  history  of  the  world  had  never 
known.  The  contributions  to  the  popular  loans 
amounted  in  four  years  to  twenty-seven  and  a 
half  hundred  millions  of  dollars ;  the  revenue  of 
the  country  from  taxation  was  increased  seven 
fold.  The  navy  of  the  United  States,  drawing  into 
the  public  service  the  willing  militia  of  the  seas, 
doubled  its  tonnage  in  eight  months,  and  estab 
lished  an  actual  blockade  from  Cape  Hatteras  to 
the  Rio  Grande ;  in  the  course  of  the  war  it  was 
increased  five-fold  in  men  and  in  tonnage,  while  the 
inventive  genius  of  the  country  devised  more  ef 
fective  kinds  of  ordnance,  and  new  forms  of  naval 
architecture  in  wood  and  iron.  There  went  into 
the  field,  for  various  terms  of  enlistment,  about  two 
million  men,  and  in  March  last  the  men  in  the 
army  exceeded  a  million :  that  is  to  say,  nine  of 
every  twenty  able-bodied  men  in  the  free  Terri 
tories  and  States  took  some  part  in  the  war;  and 
at  one  time  every  fifth  of  their  able-bodied  men  was 
in  service.  In  one  single  month  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  thousand  men  were  recruited  into  serv 
ice.  Once,  within  four  weeks,  Ohio  organized  and 
placed  in  the  field  forty-two  regiments  of  in 
fantry  —  nearly  thirty-six  thousand  men ;  and  Ohio 
was  like  other  States  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 
The  well-mounted  cavalry  numbered  eighty-four 
thousand;  of  horses  and  mules  there  were  bought, 
from  first  to  last,  two-thirds  of  a  million.  In  the 
movements  of  troops  science  came  in  aid  of  pa- 


264  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

triotism,  so  that,  to  choose  a  single  instance  out  of 
many,  an  army  twenty-three  thousand  strong,  with 
its  artillery,  trains,  baggage,  and  animals,  were 
moved  by  rail  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Tennessee, 
twelve  hundred  miles,  in  seven  days.  On  the  long 
marches,  wonders  of  military  construction  bridged 
the  rivers,  and  wherever  an  army  halted,  ample 
supplies  awaited  them  at  their  ever-changing  base. 
The  vile  thought  that  life  is  the  greatest  of  bless 
ings  did  not  rise  up.  In  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  battles  and  severe  skirmishes  blood  flowed  like 
water.  It  streamed  over  the  grassy  plains ;  it 
stained  the  rocks;  the  undergrowth  of  the  forests 
was  red  with  it ;  and  the  armies  marched  on  with 
majestic  courage  from  one  conflict  to  another, 
knowing  that  they  were  fighting  for  God  and 
liberty.  The  organization  of  the  medical  depart 
ment  met  its  infinitely  multiplied  duties  with  ex 
actness  and  despatch.  At  the  news  of  a  battle,  the 
best  surgeons  of  our  cities  hastened  to  the  field, 
to  offer  the  untiring  aid  of  the  greatest  experience 
and  skill.  The  gentlest  and  most  refined  of  women 
left  homes  of  luxury  and  ease  to  build  hospital 
tents  near  the  armies,  and  serve  as  nurses  to  the 
sick  and  dying.  Beside  the  large  supply  of  re 
ligious  teachers  by  the  public,  the  congregations 
spared  to  their  brothers  in  the  field  the  ablest 
ministers.  The  Christian  Commission,  which  ex 
pended  more  than  six  and  a  quarter  millions,  sent 
nearly  five  thousand  clergymen,  chosen  out  of  the 
best,  to  keep  unsoiled  the  religious  character  of  the 
men,  and  made  gifts  of  clothes  and  food  and  medi- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  265 

cine.  The  organization  of  private  charity  assumed 
unheard-of  dimensions.  The  Sanitary  Commission, 
which  had  seven  thousand  societies,  distributed, 
under  the  direction  of  an  unpaid  board,  spon 
taneous  contributions  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  mil 
lions  in  supplies  or  money  —  a  million  and  a  half 
in  money  from  California  alone  —  and  dotted  the 
scene  of  war,  from  Paducah  to  Port  Royal,  from 
Belle  Plain,  Virginia,  to  Brownsville,  Texas,  with 
homes  and  lodges. 

The  country  had  for  its  allies  the  river  Missis 
sippi,  which  would  not  be  divided,  and  the  range 
of  mountains  which  carried  the  stronghold  of  the 
free  through  Western  Virginia  and  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  to  the  highlands  of  Alabama.  But  it  in 
voked  the  still  higher  power  of  immortal  justice. 
In  ancient  Greece,  where  servitude  was  the  uni 
versal  custom,  it  was  held  that  if  a  child  were  to 
strike  its  parent,  the  slave  should  defend  the  parent, 
and  by  that  act  recover  his  freedom.  After  vain 
resistance,  LINCOLN,  who  had  tried  to  solve  the 
question  by  gradual  emancipation,  by  colonization, 
and  by  compensation,  at  last  saw  that  slavery  must 
be  abolished,  or  the  republic  must  die ;  and  on  the 
first  day  of  January,  1863,  he  wrote  liberty  on  the 
banners  of  the  armies.  When  this  proclamation, 
which  struck  the  fetters  from  three  millions  of 
slaves,  reached  Europe,  Lord  Russell,  a  country 
man  of  Milton  and  Wilberforce,  eagerly  put  him 
self  forward  to  speak  of  it  in  the  name  of  man 
kind,  saying :  "  It  is  of  a  very  strange  nature  " ; 
"  a  measure  of  war  of  a  very  questionable  kind  " ; 


266  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

an  act  "  of  vengeance  on  the  slave  owner,"  that 
does  no  more  than  "  profess  to  emancipate  slaves 
where  the  United  States  authorities  cannot  make 
emancipation  a  reality."  Now  there  was  no  part 
of  the  country  embraced  in  the  proclamation  where 
the  United  States  could  not  and  did  not  make 
emancipation  a  reality.  Those  who  saw  LIN 
COLN  most  frequently  had  never  before  heard 
him  speak  with  bitterness  of  any  human  being,  but 
he  did  not  conceal  how  keenly  he  felt  that  he  had 
been  wronged  by  Lord  Russell.  And  he  wrote,  in 
reply  to  other  cavils :  "  The  emancipation  policy 
and  the  use  of  colored  troops  were  the  greatest 
blows  yet  dealt  to  the  rebellion ;  the  job  was  a  great 
national  one,  and  let  none  be  slighted  who  bore 
an  honorable  part  in  it.  I  hope  peace  will  come 
soon,  and  come  to  stay;  then  will  there  be  some 
black  men  who  can  remember  that  they  have  helped 
mankind  to  this  great  consummation." 

The  proclamation  accomplished  its  end,  for,  dur 
ing  the  war,  our  armies  came  into  military  posses 
sion  of  every  State  in  rebellion.  Then,  too,  was 
called  forth  the  new  power  that  comes  from  the 
simultaneous  diffusion  of  thought  and  feeling 
among  the  nations  of  mankind.  The  mysterious 
sympathy  of  the  millions  throughout  the  world  was 
given  spontaneously.  The  best  writers  of  Europe 
waked  the  conscience  of  the  thoughtful,  till  the  in 
telligent  moral  sentiment  of  the  Old  World  was 
drawn  to  the  side  of  the  unlettered  statesman  of  the 
West.  Russia,  whose  emperor  had  just  accom 
plished  one  of  the  grandest  acts  in  the  course  of 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  267 

time,  by  raising  twenty  millions  of  bondmen  into 
freeholders,  and  thus  assuring  the  growth  and 
culture  of  a  Russian  people,  remained  our  unwaver 
ing  friend.  From  the  oldest  abode  of  civilization, 
which  gave  the  first  example  of  an  imperial  gov 
ernment  with  equality  among  the  people,  Prince 
Kung,  the  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs, 
remembered  the  saying  of  Confucius,  that  we 
should  not  do  to  others  what  we  would  not  that 
others  should  do  to  us,  and,  in  the  name  of  his 
emperor,  read  a  lesson  to  European  diplomatists 
by  closing  the  ports  of  China  against  the  warships 
and  privateers  of  "  the  seditious." 

The  war  continued,  with  all  the  peoples  of  the 
world,  for  anxious  spectators.  Its  cares  weighed 
heavily  on  LINCOLN,  and  his  face  was  ploughed 
with  the  furrows  of  thought  and  sadness.  With 
malice  towards  none,  free  from  the  spirit  of  re 
venge,  victory  made  him  importunate  for  peace,  and 
his  enemies  never  doubted  his  word,  or  despaired 
of  his  abounding  clemency.  He  longed  to  utter 
pardon  as  the  word  for  all,  but  not  unless  the  free 
dom  of  the  negro  should  be  assured.  The  grand 
battles  of  Fort  Donelson,  Chattanooga,  Malvern 
Hill,  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  the  Wilderness  of 
Virginia,  Winchester,  Nashville,  the  capture  of 
New  Orleans,  Vicksburg,  Mobile,  Fort  Fisher,  the 
march  from  Atlanta,  and  the  capture  of  Savannah 
and  Charleston,  all  foretold  the  issue.  Still  more, 
the  self-regeneration  of  Missouri,  the  heart  of  the 
continent ;  of  Maryland,  whose  sons  never  heard 
the  midnight  bells  chime  so  sweetly  as  when  they 


268  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

rang  out  to  earth  and  heaven  that,  by  the  voice  of 
her  own  people,  she  took  her  place  among  the 
free;  of  Tennessee,  which  passed  through  fire  and 
blood,  through  sorrows  and  the  shadow  of  death, 
to  work  out  her  own  deliverance,  and  by  the  faith 
fulness  of  her  own  sons  to  renew  her  youth  like 
the  eagle  —  proved  that  victory  was  deserved,  and 
would  be  worth  all  that  it  cost.  If  words  of  mercy, 
uttered  as  they  were  by  LINCOLN  on  the  waters 
of  Virginia,  were  defiantly  repelled,  the  armies  of 
the  country,  moving  with  one  will,  went  as  the  ar 
row  to  its  mark,  and,  without  a  feeling  of  revenge, 
struck  the  death-blow  at  rebellion. 

Where,  in  the  history  of  nations,  had  a  Chief 
Magistrate  possessed  more  sources  of  consolation 
and  joy  than  LINCOLN?  His  countrymen  had 
shown  their  love  by  choosing  him  to  a  second  term 
of  service.  The  raging  war  that  had  divided  the 
country  had  lulled,  and  private  grief  was  hushed 
by  the  grandeur  of  the  result.  The  nation  had  its 
new  birth  of  freedom,  soon  to  be  secured  forever 
by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution.  His  persist 
ent  gentleness  had  conquered  for  him  a  kindlier 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  South.  His  scoffers 
among  the  grandees  of  Europe  began  to  do  him 
honor.  The  laboring  classes  everywhere  saw  in 
his  advancement  their  own.  All  peoples  sent  him 
their  benedictions.  And  at  this  moment  of  the 
height  of  his  fame,  to  which  his  humility  and  mod 
esty  added  charms,  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  assas 
sin,  and  the  only  triumph  awarded  him  was  the 
march  to  the  grave. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  269 

This  is  no  time  to  say  that  human  glory  is  but 
dust  and  ashes;  that  we  mortals  are  no  more  than 
shadows  in  pursuit  of  shadows.  How  mean  a 
thing  were  man  if  there  were  not  that  within  him 
which  is  higher  than  himself ;  if  he  could  not  master 
the  illusions  of  sense,  and  discern  the  connexions 
of  events  by  a  superior  light  which  comes  from 
God !  He  so  shares  the  divine  impulses  that  he  has 
power  to  subject  ambition  to  the  ennoblement  of  his 
kind.  Not  in  vain  has  LINCOLN  lived,  for  he  has 
helped  to  make  this  republic  an  example  of  justice, 
with  no  caste  but  the  caste  of  humanity.  The  he 
roes  who  led  our  armies  and  ships  into  battle  and  fell 
in  the  service  —  Lyon,  McPherson,  Reynolds,  Sedg- 
wick,  Wadsworth,  Foote,  Ward,  with  their  com 
peers  —  did  not  die  in  vain ;  they  and  the  myriads 
of  nameless  martyrs,  and  he,  the  chief  martyr,  gave 
up  their  lives  willingly  "  that  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 

The  assassination  of  LINCOLN,  who  was  so 
free  from  malice,  has,  by  some  mysterious  influ 
ence,  struck  the  country  with  solemn  awe,  and 
hushed,  instead  of  exciting,  the  passion  for  re 
venge.  It  seems  as  if  the  just  had  died  for  the  un 
just.  When  I  think  of  the  friends  I  have  lost  in 
this  war  —  and  every  one  who  hears  me  has,  like 
myself,  lost  some  of  those  whom  he  most  loved — • 
there  is  no  consolation  to  be  derived  from  victims 
on  the  scaffold,  or  from  anything  but  the  established 
union  of  the  regenerated  nation. 

In  his   character  LINCOLN   was   through  and 


270  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

through  an  American.  He  is  the  first  native  of 
the  region  west  of  the  Alleghenies  to  attain  to  the 
highest  station;  and  how  happy  it  is  that  the  man 
who  was  brought  forward  as  the  natural  outgrowth 
and  first  fruits  of  that  region  should  have  been 
of  unblemished  purity  in  private  life,  a  good  son, 
a  kind  husband,  a  most  affectionate  father,  and,  as 
a  man,  so  gentle  to  all.  As  to  integrity,  Douglas, 
his  rival,  said  of  him :  "  Lincoln  is  the  honestest 
man  I  ever  knew." 

The  habits  of  his  mind  were  those  of  meditation 
and  inward  thought,  rather  than  of  action.  He 
delighted  to  express  his  opinions  by  an  apothegm, 
illustrate  them  by  a  parable,  or  drive  them  home 
by  a  story.  He  was  skilful  in  analysis,  discerned 
with  precision  the  central  idea  on  which  a  ques 
tion  turned,  and  knew  how  to  disengage  it  and 
present  it  by  itself  in  a  few  homely,  strong  old 
English  words  that  would  be  intelligible  to  all.  He 
excelled  in  logical  statements  more  than  in  executive 
ability.  He  reasoned  clearly,  his  reflective  judg 
ment  was  good,  and  his  purposes  were  fixed ;  but, 
like  the  Hamlet  of  his  only  poet,  his  will  was  tardy 
in  action,  and,  for  this  reason,  and  not  from 
humility  or  tenderness  of  feeling,  he  sometimes  de 
plored  that  the  duty  which  devolved  on  him  had 
not  fallen  to  the  lot  of  another. 

LINCOLN  gained  a  name  by  discussing  ques 
tions  which,  of  all  others,  most  easily  lead  to 
fanaticism;  but  he  was  never  carried  away  by  en 
thusiastic  zeal,  never  indulged  in  extravagant  lan 
guage,  never  hurried  to  support  extreme  measures, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  271 

never  allowed  himself  to  be  controlled  by  sudden 
impulses.  During  the  progress  of  the  election  at 
which  he  was  chosen  President  he  expressed  no 
opinion  that  went  beyond  the  Jefferson  proviso  of 
1784.  Like  Jefferson  and  Lafayette,  he  had  faith 
in  the  intuitions  of  the  people,  and  read  those  in 
tuitions  with  rare  sagacity.  He  knew  how  to  bide 
time,  and  was  less  apt  to  run  ahead  of  public 
thought  than  to  lag  behind.  He  never  sought  to 
electrify  the  community  by  taking  an  advanced 
position  with  a  banner  of  opinion,  but  rather  stud 
ied  to  move  forward  compactly,  exposing  no  de 
tachment  in  front  or  rear ;  so  that  the  course  of  his 
administration  might  have  been  explained  as  the 
calculating  policy  of  a  shrewd  and  watchful  politi 
cian,  had  there  not  been  seen  behind  it  a  fixedness 
of  principle  which  from  the  first  determined  his 
purpose,  and  grew  more  intense  with  every  year, 
consuming  his  life  by  its  energy.  Yet  his  sensibili 
ties  were  not  acute ;  he  had  no  vividness  of  imagin 
ation  to  picture  to  his  mind  the  horrors  of  the  battle 
field  or  the  sufferings  in  hospitals ;  his  conscience 
was  more  tender  than  his  feelings. 

LINCOLN  was  one  of  the  most  unassuming  of 
men.  In  time  of  success,  he  gave  credit  for  it  to 
those  whom  he  employed,  to  the  people,  and  to  the 
Providence  of  God.  He  did  not  know  what  osten 
tation  is ;  when  he  became  President  he  was  rather 
saddened  than  elated,  and  conduct  and  manners 
showed  more  than  ever  his  belief  that  all  men  are 
born  equal.  He  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  and 
neither  rank,  nor  reputation,  nor  services  overawed 


LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

him.  In  judging  of  character  he  failed  in  discrim 
ination,  and  his  appointments  were  sometimes  bad; 
but  he  readily  deferred  to  public  opinion,  and  in 
appointing  the  head  of  the  armies  he  followed  the 
manifest  preference  of  Congress. 

A  good  President  will  secure  unity  to  his  admin 
istration  by  his  own  supervision  of  the  various  de 
partments.  LINCOLN,  who  accepted  advice  read 
ily,  was  never  governed  by  any  member  of  his  cabi 
net,  and  could  not  be  moved  from  a  purpose  deliber 
ately  formed ;  but  his  supervision  of  affairs  was 
unsteady  and  incomplete,  and  sometimes,  by  a  sud 
den  interference  transcending  the  usual  forms,  he 
rather  confused  than  advanced  the  public  business. 
If  he  ever  failed  in  the  scrupulous  regard  due  to 
the  relative  rights  of  Congress,  it  was  so  evidently 
without  design  that  no  conflict  could  ensue,  or  evil 
precedent  be  established.  Truth  he  would  receive 
from  any  one,  but  when  impressed  by  others,  he 
did  not  use  their  opinions  till,  by  reflection,  he  had 
made  them  thoroughly  his  own. 

It  was  the  nature  of  LINCOLN  to  forgive. 
When  hostilities  ceased,  he,  who  had  always  sent 
forth  the  flag  with  every  one  of  its  stars  in  the 
field,  was  eager  to  receive  back  his  returning  coun 
trymen,  and  meditated  "  some  new  announcement 
to  the  South."  The  amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion  abolishing  slavery  had  his  most  earnest  and 
unwearied  support.  During  the  rage  of  war  we 
get  a  glimpse  into  his  soul  from  his  privately  sug 
gesting  to  Louisiana,  that  "  in  defining  the  fran 
chise  some  of  the  colored  people  might  be  let  in," 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  273 

saying :  "  They  would  probably  help,  in  some 
trying  time  to  come,  to  keep  the  jewel  of  liberty  in 
the  family  of  freedom."  In  1857  he  avowed  him 
self  "  not  in  favor  of  "  what  he  improperly  called 
"  negro  citizenship,"  for  the  Constitution  discrim 
inates  between  citizens  and  electors.  Three  days 
before  his  death  he  declared  his  preference  that 
"  the  elective  franchise  were  now  conferred  on 
the  very  intelligent  of  the  colored  men,  and  on 
those  of  them  who  served  our  cause  as  soldiers  " ; 
but  he  wished  it  done  by  the  States  themselves,  and 
he  never  harbored  the  thought  of  exacting  it  from 
a  new  government,  as  a  condition  of  its  recognition. 

The  last  day  of  his  life  beamed  with  sunshine, 
as  he  sent,  by  the  Speaker  of  this  House,  his 
friendly  greetings  to  the  men  of  the  Rocky  moun 
tains  and  the  Pacific  slope ;  as  he  contemplated  the 
return  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  soldiers  to 
fruitful  industry ;  as  he  welcomed  in  advance  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  emigrants  from  Europe ;  as 
his  eye  kindled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  coming 
wealth  of  the  nation.  And  so,  with  these  thoughts 
for  his  country,  he  was  removed  from  the  toils 
and  temptations  of  this  life,  and  was  at  peace. 

Hardly  had  the  late  President  been  consigned  to 
the  grave  when  the  prime  minister  of  England 
died,  full  of  years  and  honors.  Palmerston  traced 
his  lineage  to  the  time  of  the  conqueror;  LIN 
COLN  went  back  only  to  his  grandfather.  Pal 
merston  received  his  education  from  the  best  schol 
ars  of  Harrow,  Edinburg,  and  Cambridge;  LIN 
COLN'S  early  teachers  were  the  silent  forests,  the 


274  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

prairie,  the  river,  and  the  stars.  Palmerston  was 
in  public  life  for  sixty  years;  LINCOLN  for  but 
a  tenth  of  that  time.  Palmerston  was  a  skilful 
guide  of  an  established  aristocracy;  LINCOLN  a 
leader,  or  rather  a  companion,  of  the  people. 
Palmerston  was  exclusively  an  Englishman,  and 
made  his  boast  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the 
interest  of  England  was  his  Shibboleth;  LINCOLN 
thought  always  of  mankind,  as  well  as  his  own 
country,  and  served  human  nature  itself.  Pal 
merston,  from  his  narrowness  as  an  Englishman, 
did  not  endear  his  country  to  any  one  court  or  to 
any  one  nation,  but  rather  caused  general  uneasi 
ness  and  dislike;  LINCOLN  left  America  more 
beloved  than  ever  by  all  the  peoples  of  Europe. 
Palmerston  was  self-possessed  and  adroit  in  re 
conciling  the  conflicting  factions  of  the  aristocracy ; 
LINCOLN,  frank  and  ingenuous,  knew  how  to 
poise  himself  on  the  ever-moving  opinions  of  the 
masses.  Palmerston  was  capable  of  insolence  to 
wards  the  weak,  quick  to  the  sense  of  honor,  not 
heedful  of  right;  LINCOLN  rejected  counsel  given 
only  as  a  matter  of  policy,  and  was  not  capable 
of  being  wilfully  unjust.  Palmerston,  essentially 
superficial,  delighted  in  banter,  and  knew  how  to 
divert  grave  opposition  by  playful  levity;  LIN 
COLN  was  a  man  of  infinite  jest  on  his  lips  with 
saddest  earnestness  at  his  heart.  Palmerston  was 
a  fair  representative  of  the  aristocratic  liberality 
of  the  day,  choosing  for  his  tribunal,  not  the  con 
science  of  humanity,  but  the  House  of  Commons; 
LINCOLN  took  to  heart  the  eternal  truths  of 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  275 

liberty,  obeyed  them  as  the  commands  of  Provi 
dence,  and  accepted  the  human  race  as  the  judge 
of  his  fidelity.  Palmerston  did  nothing  that  will 
endure;  LINCOLN  finished  a  work  which  all  time 
cannot  overthrow.  Palmerston  is  a  shining  ex 
ample  of  the  ablest  of  a  cultivated  aristocracy; 
LINCOLN  is  the  genuine  fruit  of  institutions 
where  the  laboring  man  shares  and  assists  to  form 
the  great  ideas  and  designs  of  his  country. 
Palmerston  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  by 
the  order  of  his  Queen,  and  was  attended  by  the 
British  aristocracy  to  his  grave,  which,  after  a 
few  years,  will  hardly  be  noticed  by  the  side  of  the 
graves  of  Fox  and  Chatham;  LINCOLN  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  sorrow  of  his  country  across  the  con 
tinent  to  his  resting-place  in  the  heart  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  valley,  to  be  remembered  through  all  time 
by  his  countrymen,  and  by  all  the  peoples  of  the 
world. 

As  the  sum  of  all,  the  hand  of  LINCOLN  raised 
the  flag;  the  American  people  was  the  hero  of  the 
war;  and,  therefore,  the  result  is  a  new  era  of 
republicanism.  The  disturbances  in  the  country 
grew  not  out  of  anything  republican,  but  out  of 
slavery,  which  is  a  part  of  the  system  of  hereditary 
wrong;  and  the  expulsion  of  this  domestic  anomaly 
opens  to  the  renovated  nation  a  career  of  un- 
thought  of  dignity  and  glory.  Henceforth  our 
country  has  a  moral  unity  as  the  land  of  free  labor. 
The  party  for  slavery  and  the  party  against  slavery 
are  nc  more,  and  are  merged  in  the  party  of  Union 
and  freedom.  The  States  which  would  have  left 


276  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

us  are  not  brought  back  as  subjugated  States,  for 
then  we  should  hold  them  only  so  long  as  that  con 
quest  could  be  maintained ;  they  come  to  their  right 
ful  place  under  the  constitution  as  original,  neces 
sary,  and  inseparable  members  of  the  Union. 

We  build  monuments  to  the  dead,  but  no  monu 
ments  of  victory.  We  respect  the  example  of  the 
Romans,  who  never,  even  in  conquered  lands, 
raised  emblems  of  triumph.  And  our  generals  are 
not  to  be  classed  in  the  herd  of  vulgar  warriors, 
but  are  of  the  school  of  Timoleon,  and  William  of 
Nassau,  and  Washington.  They  have  used  the 
sword  only  to  give  peace  to  their  country  and  re 
store  her  to  her  place  in  the  great  assembly  of  the 
nations. 

SENATORS  AND  REPRESENTATIVES  of 
America :  as  I  bid  you  farewell,  my  last  words  shall 
be  words  of  hope  and  confidence ;  for  now  slavery 
is  no  more,  the  Union  is  restored,  a  people  begins 
to  live  according  to  the  laws  of  reason,  and  re 
publicanism  is  intrenched  in  a  continent. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

BY    GOLD  WIN    SMITH 

Abraham  Lincoln  is  assuredly  one  of  the  mar 
vels  of  history.  No  land  but  America  has  pro 
duced  his  like.  This  destined  chief  of  a  nation 
in  its  most  perilous  hour  was  the  son  of  a  thrift 
less  and  wandering  settler.  He  had  a  strong  and 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  277 

eminently  fair  understanding,  with  great  powers 
of  patient  thought,  which  he  cultivated  by  the 
study  of  Euclid.  In  all  his  views  there  was  the 
simplicity  of  his  character.  Both  as  an  advocate 
and  as  a  politician  he  was  "  Honest  Abe."  As  an 
advocate  he  would  throw  up  his  brief  when  he 
knew  that  his  case  was  bad.  He  said  himself  that 
he  had  not  controlled  events,  but  had  been  guided 
by  them.  To  know  how  to  be  guided  by  events, 
however,  if  it  is  not  imperial  genius,  is  practical 
wisdom.  Lincoln's  goodness  of  heart,  his  sense  of 
duty,  his  unselfishness,  his  freedom  from  vanity, 
his  long  suffering,  his  simplicity,  were  never  dis 
turbed  either  by  power  or  by  opposition.  To  the 
charge  of  levity  no  man  could  be  less  open. 
Though  he  trusted  in  Providence,  care  for  the 
public  and  sorrow  for  the  public  calamities  filled 
his  heart  and  sat  visibly  upon  his  brow.  His  State 
papers  are  excellent,  not  only  as  public  documents, 
but  as  compositions,  and  are  distinguished  by 
their  depth  of  human  feeling  and  tenderness, 
from  those  of  other  statesmen.  He  spoke  always 
from  his  own  heart  to  the  heart  of  the  people. 
His  brief  funeral  oration  over  the  graves  of  those 
who  had  fallen  in  the  war  is  one  of  the  gems  of 
the  language. 


278  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

GREATNESS  OF  HIS  SIMPLICITY 

BY    H.    A.    DELANO 

He  was  uneducated,  as  that  term  goes  to-day, 
and  yet  he  gave  statesmen  and  educators  things 
to  think  about  for  a  hundred  years  to  come.  Be 
neath  the  awkward,  angular  and  diffident  frame 
beat  one  of  the  noblest,  largest,  tenderest  hearts 
that  ever  swelled  in  aspiration  for  truth,  or  longed 
to  accomplish  a  freeman's  duty.  He  might  have 
lacked  in  that  acute  analysis  which  knows  the 
"  properties  of  matter,"  but  he  knew  the  passions, 
emotions,  and  weaknesses  of  men ;  he  knew  their 
motives.  He  had  the  genius  to  mine  men  and 
strike  easily  the  rich  ore  of  human  nature.  He 
was  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  and  I  prize  grate 
fully  a  fac-simile  letter  lying  among  the  treasures 
of  my  study  written  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  an  old 
friend,  requesting  the  favor  of  a  small  loan,  as 
he  had  entered  upon  that  campaign  of  his  that  was 
not  done  until  death  released  the  most  steadfast 
hero  of  that  cruel  war.  Men  speculate  as  to  his 
religion.  It  was  the  religion  of  the  seer,  the  hero, 
the  patriot,  and  the  lover  of  his  race  and  time. 
Amid  the  political  idiocy  of  the  times,  the  corrup 
tion  in  high  places,  the  dilettante  culture,  the  vapor- 
ings  of  wild  and  helpless  theorists,  in  this  swamp 
of  political  quagmire,  O  Lincoln,  it  is  refreshing 
to  think  of  thee! 


GREELEY'S  ESTIMATE      279 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  ESTIMATE  OF 
LINCOLN 

From  "  Greeley  on  Lincoln  " 

When  I  last  saw  him,  some  five  or  six  weeks 
before  his  death,  his  face  was  haggard  with  care, 
and  seamed  with  thought  and  trouble.  It  looked 
care-ploughed,  tempest-tossed,  weather-beaten,  as 
if  he  were  some  tough  old  mariner,  who  had  for 
years  been  beating  up  against  the  wind  and  tide, 
unable  to  make  his  port  or  find  safe  anchorage. 
Judging  from  that  scathed,  rugged  countenance,  I 
do  not  believe  he  could  have  lived  out  his  second 
term  had  no  felon  hand  been  lifted  against  his 
priceless  life. 

The  chief  moral  I  deduce  from  his  eventful 
career  asserts 

The  might  that  slumbers  in  a  peasant's  arm ! 

the  majestic  heritage,  the  measureless  opportunity, 
of  the  humblest  American  youth.  Here  was  an 
heir  of  poverty  and  insignificance,  obscure,  un 
taught,  buried  throughout  his  childhood  in  the  fron 
tier  forests,  with  no  transcendent,  dazzling  abilities, 
such  as  make  their  way  in  any  country,  under  any 
institutions,  but  emphatically  in  intellect,  as  in  sta 
tion,  one  of  the  millions  of  strivers  for  a  rude 
livelihood,  who,  though  attaching  himself  stub 
bornly  to  the  less  popular  party,  and  especially  so 
in  the  State  which  he  has  chosen  as  his  home, 
did  nevertheless  become  a  central  figure  of  the 


280  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Western  Hemisphere,  and  an  object  of  honor,  love, 
and  reverence  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Had 
he  been  a  genius,  an  intellectual  prodigy,  like  Julius 
Ceasar,  or  Shakespeare,  or  Mirabeau,  or  Webster, 
we  might  say :  "  This  lesson  is  not  for  us  — 
with  such  faculties  any  one  could  achieve  and  suc 
ceed  " ;  but  he  was  not  a  born  king  of  men,  ruling 
by  the  resistless  might  of  his  natural  superiority, 
but  a  child  of  the  people,  who  made  himself  a 
great  persuader,  therefore  a  leader  by  dint  of  firm 
resolve,  and  patient  effort,  and  dogged  persever 
ance.  He  slowly  won  his  way  to  eminence  and 
renown  by  ever  doing  the  work  that  lay  next  to 
him  —  doing  it  with  all  his  growing  might  —  doing 
it  as  well  as  he  could,  and  learning  by  his  failure, 
when  failure  was  encountered,  how  to  do  it  bet 
ter.  Wendell  Phillips  once  coarsely  said,  "  He 
grew  because  we  watered  him  " ;  which  was  only 
true  in  so  far  as  this  —  he  was  open  to  all  im 
pressions  and  influences,  and  gladly  profited  by  all 
the  teachings  of  events  and  circumstances,  no  mat 
ter  how  adverse  or  unwelcome.  There  was  prob 
ably  no  year  of  his  life  in  which  he  was  not  a 
wiser,  larger,  better  man  than  he  had  been  the 
year  preceding.  It  was  of  such  a  nature  —  patient, 
plodding,  sometimes  groping,  but  ever  towards  the 
light  —  that  Tennyson  sings: 

Perplext  in  faith,  but  pure  in  deeds, 

At  last  he  beat  his  music  out. 

There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds. 


GREELEY'S  ESTIMATE  281 

There  are  those  who  profess  to  have  been  always 
satisfied  with  his  conduct  of  the  war,  deeming  it 
prompt,  energetic,  vigorous,  masterly.  I  did  not, 
and  could  not,  so  regard  it.  I  believed  then  — 
I  believe  this  hour, —  that  a  Napoleon  I.,  a  Jack 
son,  would  have  crushed  secession  out  in  a  single 
short  campaign  —  almost  in  a  single  victory.  I 
believed  that  an  advance  to  Richmond  100,000 
strong  might  have  been  made  by  the  end  of  June, 
1861 ;  that  would  have  insured  a  counter-revolution 
throughout  the  South,  and  a  voluntary  return  of 
every  State,  through  a  dispersion  and  disavowal 
of  its  rebel  chiefs,  to  the  councils  and  the  flag  of  the 
Union.  But  such  a  return  would  have  not  merely 
left  slavery  intact  —  it  would  have  established  it 
on  firmer  foundations  than  ever  before.  The  mo 
mentarily  alienated  North  and  South  would  have 
fallen  on  each  other's  necks,  and,  amid  tears  and 
kisses,  have  sealed  their  reunion  by  ignominiously 
making  the  Black  the  scapegoat  of  their  bygone 
quarrel,  and  wreaking  on  him  the  spite  which  they 
had  purposed  to  expend  on  each  other.  But  God 
had  higher  ends,  to  which  a  Bull  Run,  a  Ball's 
Bluff,  a  Gaines's  Mill,  a  Groveton,  were  indispens 
able:  and  so  they  came  to  pass,  and  were  endured 
and  profited  by.  The  Republic  needed  to  be  passed 
through  chastening,  purifying  fires  of  adversity 
and  suffering:  so  these  came  and  did  their  work 
and  the  verdure  of  a  new  national  life  springs 
greenly,  luxuriantly,  from  their  ashes.  Other  men 
were  helpful  to  the  great  renovation,  and  nobly 
did  their  part  in  it;  yet,  looking  back  through  the 


282  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

lifting  mists  of  seven  eventful,  tragic,  trying, 
glorious  years,  I  clearly  discern  that  the  one  provi 
dential  leader,  the  indispensable  hero  of  the  great 
drama  —  faithfully  reflecting  even  in  his  hesitations 
and  seeming  vacillations  the  sentiment  of  the 
masses  —  fitted  by  his  very  defects  and  shortcom 
ings  for  the  burden  laid  upon  him,  the  good  to  be 
wrought  out  through  him,  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN 

BY   J.    T.    TROWBRIDGE 

Heroic  soul,  in  homely  garb  half  hid, 
Sincere,  sagacious,  melancholy,  quaint; 

What  he  endured,  no  less  than  what  he  did, 
Has  reared  his  monument,  and  crowned  him 
saint. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN1 

BY    B.    B.    TYLER 

In  1865,  the  bullet  of  an  assassin  suddenly 
terminated  the  life  among  men  of  one  who  was  an 
honor  to  his  race.  He  was  great  and  good.  He 
was  great  because  he  was  good.  Lincoln's  re- 

1  From  '  The  Homiletic  Review,'  Funk  &  W agnails, 
Publishers, 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  283 

ligious  character  was  the  one  thing  which,  above 
all  other  features  of  his  unique  mental  and  moral 
as  well  as  physical  personality,  lifted  him  above  his 
fellow  men. 

Because  an  effort  has  been  made  to  parade  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  as  an  unbeliever,,  I  have  been  led  to 
search  carefully  for  the  facts  in  his  life  bearing 
on  this  point.  The  testimony  seems  to  be  almost 
entirely,  if  not  altogether,  on  one  side.  I  cannot 
account  for  the  statement  which  William  H.  Hern- 
don  makes  in  his  life  of  the  martyred  President, 
that,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  faith."  For  twenty- 
five  years  Mr.  Herndon  was  Abraham  Lincoln's 
law  partner  in  Springfield,  111.  He  had  the  best 
opportunities  to  know  Abraham  Lincoln.  When, 
however,  he  affirms  that  "  Mr.  Lincoln  had  no 
faith,"  he  speaks  without  warrant.  It  is  simply 
certain  that  he  uses  words  in  their  usually  ac 
cepted  signification,  although  his  statement  con 
cerning  Lincoln  is  not  true. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  profound  faith. 
He  believed  in  God.  Lie  believed  in  Christ.  He 
believed  in  the  Bible.  He  believed  in  men.  His 
faith  made  him  great.  His  life  is  a  beautiful  com 
mentary  on  the  words,  "  This  is  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  There 
was  a  time  in  Lincoln's  experience  when  his  faith 
faltered,  as  there  was  a  time  when  his  reason  tot 
tered,  but  these  sad  experiences  were  temporary, 
and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  neither  an  infidel  nor 
a  lunatic.  It  is  easy  to  trace  in  the  life  of  this 
colossal  character,  a  steady  growth  of  faith.  This 


284  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

grace  in  him  increased  steadily  in  breadth  and  in 
strength  with  the  passing  years,  until  it  came  to 
pass  that  his  last  public  utterances  show  forth  the 
confidence  and  the  fire  of  an  ancient  Hebrew 
prophet. 

It  is  true  that  Lincoln  never  united  with  the 
Church,  although  a  lifelong  and  regular  attendant 
on  its  services.  He  had  a  reason  for  occupying 
a  position  outside  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  as  it  existed  in  his  day  and  in  his  part  of 
the  world.  This  reason  Lincoln  did  not  hesitate 
to  declare.  He  explained  on  one  occasion  that  he 
had  never  become  a  church  member  because  he  did 
not  like  and  could  not  in  conscience  subscribe  to 
the  long  and  frequently  complicated  statements  of 
Christian  doctrines  which  characterized  the  con 
fessions  of  the  Churches.  He  said :  "  When  any 
Church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar  as  its  sole  quali 
fication  for  membership  the  Savior's  condensed 
statement  of  the  substance  of  both  law  and  gospel, 
'  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself/  that  Church  will  I 
join  with  all  my  heart  and  soul." 

Abraham  Lincoln  in  these  words  recognizes  the 
central  figure  of  the  Bible,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as 
"  the  Saviour."  He  recognizes  God  as  the  supreme 
Lawgiver,  and  expresses  readiness,  while  eschewing 
theological  subtleties,  to  submit  heart  and  soul  to 
the  supreme  Lawgiver  of  the  universe.  His  faith, 
according  to  this  language,  goes  out  manward  as 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  285 

well  as  Godward.  He  believed  not  only  in  God, 
but  he  believed  in  man  as  well,  and  this  Christianity, 
according  to  Christ,  requires  of  all  disciples  of  the 
great  Teacher. 

About  a  year  before  his  assassination  Lincoln, 
in  a  letter  to  Joshua  Speed,  said :  "  I  am  profit 
ably  engaged  in  reading  the  Bible.  Take  all  of  this 
book  upon  reason  that  you  can  and  the  balance  on 
faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man."  He 
saw  and  declared  that  the  teaching  of  the  Bible 
had  a  tendency  to  improve  character.  He  had  a 
right  view  of  this  sacred  literature.  Its  purpose  is 
character  building. 

Leonard  Swett,  who  knew  Abraham  Lincoln 
well,  said  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Chicago  monu 
ment  that  Lincoln  "  believed  in  God  as  the  supreme 
ruler  of  the  universe,  the  guide  of  men,  and  the 
controller  of  the  great  events  and  destinies  of  man 
kind.  He  believed  himself  to  be  an  instrument  and 
leader  in  this  country  of  the  force  of  freedom." 

From  this  it  appears  that  his  belief  was  not 
merely  theoretical,  but  that  it  was  practical.  He 
regarded  himself  as  an  instrument,  as  Moses  was 
an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Almighty  God,  to  lead 
men  into  freedom. 

It  was  after  his  election,  in  the  autumn  of  1860, 
and  but  a  short  time  before  his  inauguration  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  that  in  a  letter  to 
Judge  Joseph  Gillespie,  he  said :  "  I  have  read 
on  my  knees  the  story  of  Gethsemane,  where  the 
Son  of  God  prayed  in  vain  that  the  cup  of  bitter- 


286  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ness  might  pass  from  Him.  I  am  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane  now,  and  my  cup  of  bitterness  is 
full  and  overflowing." 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  he  believed  the  Jesus 
of  the  Gospels  to  be  "the  Son  of  God."  And 
what  a  sense  of  responsibility  he  must  at  the  time 
of  writing  this  letter  have  experienced  to  cause 
him  to  declare,  "  I  am  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane 
now,  and  my  cup  of  bitterness  is  full  and  over 
flowing  !  "  Only  a  superlatively  good  man,  only 
a  man  of  genuine  piety,  could  use  honestly  such 
language  as  this.  These  words  do  not  indicate 
unbelief  or  agnosticism.  If  ever  a  man  in  public 
life  in  these  United  States  was  removed  the  dis 
tance  of  the  antipodes  from  the  coldness  and  bleak 
ness  of  agnosticism,  that  man  was  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  This  confession  of  faith,  incidentally  made 
in  a  brief  letter  to  a  dear  friend,  is  not  only 
orthodox  according  to  the  accepted  standards  of 
orthodoxy,  but,  better,  it  is  evangelical.  To  him 
the  hero  of  the  Gospel  histories  was  none  other 
than  "  the  Son  of  God."  By  the  use  of  these  words 
did  Lincoln  characterize  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Herndon  has  said  in  his  life  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  that  he  never  read  the  Bible,  but  Alexander 
Williamson,  who  was  employed  as  a  tutor  in  Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  family  in  Washington,  said  that 
"  Mr.  Lincoln  very  frequently  studied  the  Bible, 
with  the  aid  of  Cruden's  Concordance,  which  lay 
on  his  table."  If  Lincoln  was  not  a  reader  and 
student  of  the  inspired  literature  which  we  call 
the  Bible,  what  explanation  can  be  made  of  his 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  287 

language  just  quoted,  addressed  to  Judge  Gilles- 
pie,  "  I  have  read  on  my  knees  the  story  of  Geth- 
semane,  where  the  Son  of  God  prayed  in  vain  that 
the  cup  of  bitterness  might  pass  from  Him  "  ? 

I  have  admitted  that  in  Lincoln's  experience 
there  was  a  time  when  his  faith  faltered.  It  is 
interesting  to  know  in  what  manner  he  came  to 
have  the  faith  which  in  the  maturity  of  his  royal 
manhood  and  in  the  zenith  of  his  intellectual 
powers  he  expressed.  One  of  his  pastors  —  for  he 
sat  under  the  ministry  of  James  Smith,  has  told 
in  what  way  Lincoln  came  to  be  an  intelligent  be 
liever  in  the  Bible,  in  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God, 
and  in  Christianity  as  Divine  in  its  origin,  and  a 
mighty  moral  and  spiritual  power  for  the  regenera 
tion  of  men  and  of  the  race.  Mr.  Smith  placed 
before  him,  he  says,  the  arguments  for  and  against 
the  Divine  authority  and  inspiration  of  the  Scrip 
tures.  To  the  arguments  on  both  sides  Lincoln 
gave  a  patient,  impartial,  and  searching  investiga 
tion.  He  himself  said  that  he  examined  the  argu 
ments  as  a  lawyer  investigates  testimony  in  a  case 
in  which  he  is  deeply  interested.  At  the  con 
clusion  of  the  investigation  he  declared  that  the 
arguments  in  favor  of  the  Divine  authority  and  in 
spiration  of  the  Bible  is  unanswerable. 

So  far  did  Lincoln  go  in  his  open  sympathy  with 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible  that  on  one  occasion  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  assembly,  he  delivered  the 
address  at  an  annual  meeting  of  the  Springfield, 
Illinois,  Bible  Society.  In  the  course  of  his  ad 
dress  he  drew  a  contrast  between  the  decalog  and 


288  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

the  most  eminent  lawgiver  of  antiquity,  in  which 
he  said :  "  It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  short  of 
infinite  wisdom  could  by  any  possibility  have  de 
vised  and  given  to  man  this  excellent  and  perfect 
moral  code.  It  is  suited  to  men  in  all  the  condi 
tions  of  life,  and  inculcates  all  the  duties  they  owe 
to  their  Creator,  to  themselves,  and  their  fellow 
men." 

Lincoln  prepared  an  address,  in  which  he  de 
clared  that  this  country  cannot  exist  half  slave  and 
half-free.  He  affirmed  the  saying  of  Jesus,  "  A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  Hav 
ing  read  this  address  to  some  friends,  they  urged 
him  to  strike  out  that  portion  of  it.  If  he  would 
do  so,  he  could  probably  be  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate ;  but  if  he  delivered  the  address  as 
written,  the  ground  taken  was  so  high,  the  position 
was  so  advanced,  his  sentiments  were  so  radical, 
he  would  probably  fail  of  gaining  a  seat  in  the 
supreme  legislative  body  of  the  greatest  republic 
on  earth. 

Lincoln,  under  those  circumstances,  said :  "  I 
know  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  hates  the  in 
justice  of  slavery.  I  see  the  storm  coming,  and 
I  know  that  His  hand  is  in  it.  If  He  has  a  place 
and  a  work  for  me,  and  I  think  he  has,  I  believe  I 
am  ready.  I  am  nothing  but  truth  is  everything. 
I  know  I  am  right,  because  I  know  that  lib 
erty  is  right,  for  Christ  teaches  it,  and  Christ  is 
God." 

And  yet  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  a  man 
who  could  express  himself  in  this  way  and  show 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  289 

this  courage  was  a  doubter,  a  skeptic,  an  unbe 
liever,  an  agnostic,  an  infidel.  "  Christ  is  God." 
This  was  Lincoln's  faith  in  1860,  found  in  a  let 
ter  addressed  to  the  Hon.  Newton  Bateman. 

Lincoln's  father  was  a  Christian.  Old  Uncle 
Tommy  Lincoln,  as  his  friends  familiarly  called 
him,  was  a  good  man.  He  was  what  might  be 
called  a  ne'er-do-well.  As  the  world  counts  suc 
cess,  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  father  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  was  not  successful,  but  he  was  an  honest  man. 
He  was  a  truthful  man.  He  was  a  man  of  faith. 
He  worshipped  God.  He  belonged  to  the  church. 
He  was  a  member  of  a  congregation  in  Charleston, 
111.,  which  I  had  the  honor  to  serve  in  the  beginning 
of  my  ministry,  known  as  the  Christian  Church. 
He  died  not  far  from  Charleston,  and  is  buried  a 
few  miles  distant  from  the  beautiful  little  town, 
the  county  seat  of  Coles  County,  111. 

During  the  last  illness  of  his  father,  Lincoln 
wrote  a  letter  to  his  step-brother,  John  Johnston, 
which  closes  with  the  following  sentences :  "  I 
sincerely  hope  that  father  may  recover  his  health, 
but  at  all  events  tell  him  to  remember  to  call  upon 
and  confide  in  our  great,  and  good,  and  merciful 
Maker,  who  will  not  turn  away  from  him  in  any 
extremity.  He  notes  the  fall  of  the  sparrow,  and 
numbers  the  hairs  of  our  heads,  and  He  will  not 
forget  the  dying  man  who  puts  his  trust  in  Him. 
Say  to  him  that  if  we  could  meet  now  it  is  doubt 
ful  whether  it  would  not  be  more  painful  than 
pleasant,  but  that  if  it  be  his  lot  to  go  now  he  will 
soon  have  a  joyful  meeting  with  loved  ones  gone 


290  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

before,  and  where  the  rest  of  us,  through  the  mercy 
of  God,  hope  ere  long  to  join  them." 

From  this  it  appears  that  Lincoln  cherished  a 
hope  of  life  everlasting  through  the  mercy  of  God. 
This  sounds  very  much  like  the  talk  of  a  Christian. 

Although  Lincoln  was  not  a  church  member,  he 
was  a  man  of  prayer.  He  believed  that  God  can 
hear,  does  hear,  and  answer  prayer.  Lincoln  said 
in  conversation  with  General  Sickles  concerning 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  that  he  had  no  anxiety  as 
to  the  result.  At  this  General  Sickles  expressed 
surprise,  and  inquired  into  the  reason  for  this  un 
usual  state  of  mind  at  that  period  in  the  history  of 
the  war.  Lincoln  hesitated  to  accede  to  the  re 
quest  of  General  Sickles,  but  was  finally  prevailed 
upon  to  do  so,  and  this  is  what  he  said : 

"  Well,  I  will  tell  you  how  it  was.  In  the  pinch 
of  your  campaign  up  there,  when  everybody  seemed 
panic  stricken,  and  nobody  could  tell  what  was 
going  to  happen,  oppressed  by  the  gravity  of  our 
affairs,  I  went  into  my  room  one  day  and  locked 
the  door,  and  got  down  on  my  knees  before  Al 
mighty  God,  and  prayed  to  Him  mightily  for  vic 
tory  at  Gettysburg.  I  told  Him  this  was  His  war, 
and  our  cause  His  cause,  but  that  we  could  not 
stand  another  Fredericksburg  or  Chancellorsville. 
And  I  then  and  there  made  a  solemn  vow  to  Al 
mighty  God  that  if  He  would  stand  by  our  boys 
at  Gettysburg  I  would  stand  by  Him.  And  He  did 
and  I  will.  And  after  that  (I  don't  know  how  it 
was,  and  I  can't  explain  it)  but  soon  a  sweet  com 
fort  crept  into  my  soul  that  things  would  go  all 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  291 

right  at  Gettysburg1,  and  that  is  why  I  had  no  fears 
about  you." 

Such  faith  as  this  will  put  to  the  blush  many 
who  are  members  of  the  church. 

It  was  afterward  that  General  Sickles  asked  him 
what  news  he  had  from  Vicksburg.  He  answered 
that  he  had  no  news  worth  mentioning,  but  that 
Grant  was  still  "  pegging  away  "  down  there,  and 
he  thought  a  good  deal  of  him  as  a  general,  and 
had  no  thought  of  removing  him  notwithstanding 
that  he  was  urged  to  do  so ;  and,  "  besides,"  he 
added,  "  I  have  been  praying  over  Vicksburg  also, 
and  believe  our  Heavenly  Father  is  going  to  give 
us  victory  there  too,  because  we  need  it,  in  order 
to  bisect  the  Confederacy  and  have  the  Mississippi 
flow  unvexed  to  the  sea." 

When  he  entered  upon  the  task  to  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  had  called  him,  at  the 
railway  station  in  Springfield  on  the  eve  of  his 
departure  to  Washington  to  take  the  oath  of  of 
fice,  he  delivered  an  address.  It  is  a  model.  I 
quote  it  entire.  It  is  as  follows: 

"  My  friends*,  no  one  not  in  my  position  can 
realize  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this 
people  I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Here  my  chil 
dren  were  born,  and  here  one  of  them  lies  buried. 
I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again.  I  go 
to  assume  a  task  more  than  that  which  has  de 
volved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Wash 
ington.  He  never  would  have  succeeded  except 
for  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he 


292  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed 
without  the  same  Divine  blessing  which  sustained 
him,  and  on  the  same  almighty  Being  I  place  my 
reliance  for  support.  And  I  hope  you,  my  friends, 
will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assist 
ance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with 
which  success  is  certain.  Again,  I  bid  you  an 
affectionate  farewell." 

At  the  time  of  Lincoln's  assassination  these 
words  were  printed  in  a  great  variety  of  forms. 
In  my  home  for  a  number  of  years,  beautifully 
framed,  these  parting  words  addressed  to  the 
friends  of  many  years  in  Springfield,  111.,  orna 
mented  my  humble  residence.  And  yet  one  of  his 
biographers  refers  to  this  address  as  if  its  genuine 
ness  may  well  be  doubted.  At  the  time  of  its  de 
livery  it  was  taken  down  and  published  broadcast 
in  the  papers  of  the  day. 

But  it  would  be  wearisome  to  you  to  recite  all 
the  evidences  bearing  on  the  religious  character 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  John  G.  Nicolay  well  says: 
"  Benevolence  and  forgiveness  were  the  very  basis 
of  his  character;  his  world-wide  humanity  is  aptly 
embodied  in  a  phrase  of  his  second  inaugural : 
'  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all/ 
His  nature  was  deeply  religious,  but  he  belonged 
to  no  denomination ;  he  had  faith  in  the  eternal 
justice  and  boundless  mercy  of  Providence,  and 
made  the  Golden  Rule  of  Christ  his  practical 
creed/' 

In  this  passage  Mr.  Nicolay  refers  especially  to 
Lincoln's  second  inaugural  address.  This  address 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  293 

has  tbe  ring  of  an  ancient  Hebrew  prophet.  Only 
a  man  of  faith  and  piety  could  deliver  such  an 
address.  After  the  struggles  through  which  the 
country  had  passed  Lincoln's  self-poise,  his  confi 
dence  in  God,  his  belief  in  and  affection  for  his 
fellow  men,  remained  unabated.  In  Lincoln's 
second  inaugural  address  he  used  these  words : 

"  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  mag 
nitude  or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  at 
tained  :  neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the 
conflict  might  cease  when  or  even  before  the  con 
flict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier 
triumph,  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  as 
tounding.  Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  pray  to 
the  same  God,  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against 
the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men 
should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wring 
ing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
faces ;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged. 
The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered :  that  of 
neither  has  been  answered  fully. 

'  The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  '  Wo 
unto  the  world  because  of  offenses,  for  it  must  needs 
be  that  offenses  come ;  but  wo  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  offense  cometh.'  If  we  shall  suppose 
that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come, 
but  which,  having  continued  through  His  ap 
pointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that 
He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible 
war,  as  the  wo  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense 
came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from 


294  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in  a 
living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him.  Fondly  do 
we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if 
God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled 
by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop 
of  blood  drawn  with  a  lash  shall  be  paid  with 
another  drawn  by  a  sword,  as  was  said  three  thou 
sand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said.  *  The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  al 
together.' 

"  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for 
all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to 
see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  Nation's  wounds ;  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among 
our  selves  and  with  all  nations." 

The  spirit  of  this  address,  under  the  circum 
stances,  is  intensely  Christian,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  speeches  in  the  literature  of  the 
world. 

When  Lincoln  was  urged  to  issue  his  Proclama 
tion  of  Emancipation  he  waited  on  God  for  guid 
ance.  He  said  to  some  who  urged  this  matter, 
who  were  anxious  to  have  the  President  act  with 
out  delay :  "  I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for 
me  to  say  that,  if  it  is  probable  that  God  would 
reveal  His  will  to  others  on  a  point  so  connected 
with  my  duty,  it  might  be  supposed  He  would 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  295 

reveal  it  directly  to  me,  for,  unless  I  am  more  de 
ceived  in  myself  that  I  often  am,  it  is  my  earnest 
desire  to  know  the  will  of  Providence  in  this  mat 
ter,  and  if  I  can  learn  what  it  is,  I  will  do  it." 

Stoddard,  in  his  Life  of  Lincoln,  gives  attention 
beyond  any  of  his  biographers  to  the  religious  side 
of  Lincoln's  character.  Commenting  on  the  in 
augural  from  which  I  have  quoted,  Mr.  Stoddard 
said : 

"  His  mind  and  soul  have  reached  the  full  de 
velopment  in  a  religious  life  so  unusually  intense 
and  absorbing  that  it  could  not  otherwise  than 
utter  itself  in  the  grand  sentences  of  his  last  ad 
dress  to  the  people.  The  knowledge  had  come, 
and  the  faith  had  come,  and  the  charity  had  come, 
and  with  all  had  come  the  love  of  God  which  had 
put  away  all  thought  of  rebellious  resistance  to 
the  will  of  God  leading,  as  in  his  earlier  days  of 
trial,  to  despair  and  insanity." 

I  wish  to  call  special  attention  to  Lincoln's 
temperance  habits.  He  was  a  teetotaler  so  far  as 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  was 
concerned.  When  the  committee  of  the  Chicago 
Convention  waited  upon  Lincoln  to  inform  him  of 
his  nomination  he  treated  them  to  ice-water  and 
said: 

"  Gentlemen,  we  must  pledge  our  mutual  healths 
in  the  most  healthy  beverage  which  God  has  given 
to  man.  It  is  the  only  beverage  I  have  ever  used 
or  allowed  in  my  family,  and  I  cannot  conscien 
tiously  depart  from  it  on  the  present  occasion.  It 
is  pure  Adam's  ale  from  the  spring." 


296  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Mr.  John  Hay,  one  of  his  biographers,  says : 
"  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  exceedingly  temper 
ate  habits.  He  made  no  use  of  either  whisky  or 
tobacco  during  all  the  years  that  I  knew  him." 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  model  in  every  respect 
but  one.  It  was  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  this 
great  and  good  man  that  he  never  identified  him 
self  openly  with  the  Church.  I  know  what  can 
be  said  in  favor  of  his  position.  It  is  not,  however, 
satisfactory.  If  all  men  were  to  act  in  this  matter 
as  Lincoln  did,  there  would  be  no  Church.  This 
is  obvious.  Hence  the  mistake  which  he  made. 
Otherwise,  as  to  his  personal  habits ;  as  to  his  con 
fidence  in  God;  as  to  his  faith  in  man;  as  to  his 
conception  and  use  of  the  Bible ;  as  to  his  habits 
of  prayer;  as  to  his  judicial  fairness;  as  to  his 
sympathy  with  men  —  in  all  these  respects,  as  in 
many  others,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  a  character  to 
be  studied  and  imitated. 


TO  THE  SPIRIT  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  l 

(Reunion  at  Gettysburg  Twenty-Five  Years  After 
the   Battle) 

BY    RICHARD    WATSON    GILDER 
1888 

Shade  of  our  greatest,  O  look  down  to  day! 
Here  the  long,  dread  midsummer  battle  roared, 

permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN  297 

And   brother   in   brother   plunged   the    accursed 

sword ; — 
Here  foe  meets  foe  once  more  in  proud  array 

Yet  not  as  once  to  harry  and  to  slay 

But  to  strike  hands,  and  with   sublime   accord 
Weep  tears  heroic  for  the  souls  that  soared 
Quick  from  earth's  carnage  to  the  starry  way. 

Each  fought  for  what  he  deemed  the  people's  good, 
And  proved  his  bravery  with  his  offered  life, 
And  sealed  his  honor  with  his  outpoured  blood; 

But  the  Eternal  did  direct  the  strife, 

And  on  this  sacred  field  one  patriot  host 
Now  calls   thee   father, —  dear,   majestic  ghost! 


LINCOLN  AS  A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN 

BY    PHILLIPS    BROOKS 

While  I  speak  to  you  to-day,  the  body  of  the 
President  who  ruled  this  people,  is  lying,  honored 
and  loved,  in  our  city.  It  is  impossible,  with  that 
sacred  presence  in  our  midst,  for  me  to  stand  and 
speak  of  ordinary  topics  which  occupy  the  pulpit. 
I  must  speak  of  him  to-day;  and  I  therefore  un 
dertake  to  do  what  I  have  intended  to  do  at  some 
future  time,  to  invite  you  to  study  with  me  the 
character  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  impulse  of  his 
life  and  the  causes  of  his  death.  I  know  how 
hard  it  is  to  do  it  rightly,  how  impossible  it  is  to 
do  it  worthily.  But  I  shall  speak  with  confidence, 
because  I  speak  to  those  who  love  him,  and  whose 


298  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

ready  love  will  fill  out  the  deficiencies  in  a  picture 
which  my  words  will  weakly  try  to  draw. 

We  take  it  for  granted,  first  of  all,  that  there 
is  an  essential  connection  between  Mr.  Lincoln's 
character  and  his  violent  and  bloody  death.  It 
is  no  accident,  no  arbitrary  decree  of  Providence. 
He  lived  as  he  did,  and  he  died  as  he  did,  because 
he  was  what  he  was.  The  more  we  see  of  events 
the  less  we  come  to  believe  in  any  fate,  or  destiny, 
except  the  destiny  of  character.  It  will  be  our 
duty,  then,  to  see  what  there  was  in  the  character 
of  our  great  President  that  created  the  history  of 
his  life,  and  at  last  produced  the  catastrophe  of 
his  cruel  death.  After  the  first  trembling  horror, 
the  first  outburst  of  indignant  sorrow,  has  grown 
calm,  these  are  the  questions  which  we  are  bound 
to  ask  and  answer. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  even  to  sketch  the 
biography  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was  born  in  Ken 
tucky  fifty-six  years  ago,  when  Kentucky  was  a 
pioneer  State.  He  lived,  as  a  boy  and  man,  the 
hard  and  needy  life  of  a  backwoodsman,  a  farmer, 
a  river  boatman,  and,  finally,  by  his  own  efforts  at 
self-education,  of  an  active,  respected,  influential 
citizen,  in  the  half  organized  and  manifold  in 
terests  of  a  new  and  energetic  community.  From 
his  boyhood  up  he  lived  in  direct  and  vigorous 
contact  with  men  and  things,  not  as  in  older  states 
and  easier  conditions  with  words  and  theories ;  and 
both  his  moral  convictions  and  intellectual  opinions 
gathered  from  that  contact  a  supreme  degree  of 


A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN  299 

that  character  by  which  men  knew  him;  that  char 
acter  which  is  the  most  distinctive  possession  of 
the  best  American  nature ;  that  almost  indescrib 
able  quality  which  we  call,  in  general,  clearness 
or  truth,  and  which  appears  in  the  physical  struc 
ture  as  health,  in  the  moral  constitution  as  honesty, 
in  the  mental  structure  as  sagacity,  and  in  the  re 
gion  of  active  life  as  practicalness.  This  one  char 
acter,  with  many  sides,  all  shaped  of  the  same  es 
sential  force  and  testifying  to  the  same  inner  in 
fluences,  was  what  was  powerful  in  him  and  de 
creed  for  him  the  life  he  was  to  live  and  the  death 
he  was  to  die.  We  must  take  no  smaller  view 
then  this  of  what  he  was. 

It  is  the  great  boon  of  such  characters  as  Mr. 
Lincoln's,  that  they  reunite  what  God  has  joined 
together  and  man  has  put  asunder.  In  him  was 
vindicated  the  greatness  of  real  goodness  and  the 
goodness  of  real  greatness.  The  twain  were  one 
flesh.  Not  one  of  all  the  multitudes  who  stood 
and  looked  up  to  him  for  direction  with  such  a 
loving  and  implicit  trust  can  tell  you  to-day  whether 
the  wise  judgments  that  he  gave  came  most  from 
a  strong  head  or  a  sound  heart.  If  you  ask  them, 
they  are  puzzled.  There  are  men  as  good  as  he, 
but  they  do  bad  things.  There  are  men  as  intelli 
gent  as  he,  but  they  do  foolish  things.  In  him, 
goodness  and  intelligence  combined  and  made  their 
best  result  of  wisdom.  For  perfect  truth  consists 
not  merely  in  the  right  constituents  of  character, 
but  in  their  right  and  intimate  conjunction.  This 


300  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

union  of  the  mental  and  moral  into  a  life  of  ad 
mirable  simplicity  is  what  we  most  admire  in  chil 
dren;  but  in  them  it  is  unsettled  and  unpractical. 
But  when  it  is  preserved  into  manhood,  deepened 
into  reliability  and  maturity,  it  is  that  glorified 
childlikeness,  that  high  and  reverend  simplicity, 
which  shames  and  baffles  the  most  accomplished 
astuteness,  and  is  chosen  by  God  to  fill  His  pur 
poses  when  He  needs  a  ruler  for  His  people,  of 
faithful  and  true  heart,  such  as  he  had,  who  was 
our  President. 

Another  evident  quality  of  such  character  as  this 
will  be  its  freshness  or  newness,  if  we  may  so 
speak ;  its  freshness  or  readiness, —  call  it  what  you 
will, —  its  ability  to  take  up  new  duties  and  do  them 
in  a  new  way,  will  result  of  necessity  from  its 
truth  and  clearness.  The  simple  natures  and  forces 
will  always  be  the  most  pliant  ones.  Water  bends 
and  shapes  itself  to  any  channel.  Air  folds  and 
adapts  itself  to  each  new  figure.  They  are  the 
simplest  and  the  most  infinitely  active  things  in 
nature.  So  this  nature,  in  very  virtue  of  its  sim 
plicity,  must  be  also  free,  always  fitting  itself  to 
each  new  need.  It  will  always  start  from  the  most 
fundamental  and  eternal  conditions,  and  work  in 
the  straightest,  even  though  they  be  the  newest 
ways,  to  the  present  prescribed  purpose.  In  one 
word,  it  must  be  broad  and  independent  and  radical. 
So  that  freedom  and  radicalness  in  the  character 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  were  not  separate  qualities, 
but  the  necessary  results  of  his  simplicity  and 
childlikeness  and  truth. 


A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN  301 

Here  then  we  have  some  conception  of  the  man. 
Out  of  this  character  came  the  life  which  we  ad 
mire  and  the  death  which  we  lament  to-day.  He 
was  called  in  that  character  to  that  life  and  death. 
It  was  just  the  nature,  as  you  see,  which  a  new 
nation  such  as  ours  ought  to  produce.  All  the 
conditions  of  his  birth,  his  youth,  his  manhood, 
which  made  him  what  he  was,  were  not  irregular 
and  exceptional,  but  were  the  normal  conditions 
of  a  new  and  simple  country.  His  pioneer  home 
in  Indiana  was  a  type  of  the  pioneer  land  in  which 
he  lived.  If  ever  there  was  a  man  who  was  a  part 
of  the  time  and  country  he  lived  in,  this  was  he. 
The  same  simple  respect  for  labor  won  in  the 
school  of  work  and  incorporated  into  blood  and 
muscle ;  the  same  unassuming  loyalty  to  the  simple 
virtues  of  temperance  and  industry  and  integrity ; 
the  same  sagacious  judgment  which  had  learned 
to  be  quick-eyed  and  quick-brained  in  the  constant- 
presence  of  emergency ;  the  same  direct  and  clear 
thought  about  things,  social,  political  and  religious, 
that  was  in  him  supremely,  was  in  the  people  he 
was  sent  to  rule.  Surely,  with  such  a  type-man 
for  ruler,  there  would  seem  to  be  but  a  smooth 
and  even  road  over  which  he  might  lead  the  peo 
ple  whose  character  he  represented  into  the  new 
region  of  national  happiness,  and  comfort,  and  use 
fulness,  for  which  that  character  had  been  designed. 

The  cause  that  Abraham  Lincoln  died  for  shall 
grow  stronger  by  his  death,  stronger  and  sterner. 
Stronger  to  set  its  pillars  deep  into  the  structure 
of  our  Nation's  life;  sterner  to  execute  the  justice 


302  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

of  the  Lord  upon  his  enemies.  Stronger  to  spread 
its  arms  and  grasp  our  whole  land  into  freedom ; 
sterner  to  sweep  the  last  poor  ghost  of  slavery  out 
of  our  haunted  homes. 

So  let  him  lie  there  in  our  midst  to-day  and  let 
our  people  go  and  bend  with  solemn  thoughtful- 
ness  and  look  upon  his  face  and  read  the  lessons 
of  his  burial.  As  he  passed  here  on  his  journey 
from  the  Western  home  and  told  us  what,  by  the 
help  of  God,  he  meant  to  do,  so  let  him  pause  upon 
his  way  back  to  his  Western  grave  and  tell  us, 
with  a  silence  more  eloquent  than  words,  how 
bravely,  how  truly,  by  the  strength  of  God,  he  did 
it.  God  brought  him  up  as  He  brought  David  up 
from  the  sheep-folds  to  feed  Jacob,  His  people,  and 
Israel,  His  inheritance.  He  came  up  in  earnest 
ness  and  faith,  and  he  goes  back  in  triumph.  As 
he  pauses  here  to-day,  and  from  his  cold  lips  bids 
us  bear  witness  how  he  has  met  the  duty  that  was 
laid  on  him,  what  can  we  say  out  of  our  full 
hearts  but  this : — "  He  fed  them  with  a  faithful 
and  true  heart,  and  ruled  them  prudently  with  all 
his  power." 

THE  SHEPHERD  OF  THE  PEOPLE!  that  old  name 
that  the  best  rulers  ever  craved.  What  ruler  ever 
won  it  like  this  dead  President  of  ours?  He 
fed  us  faithfully  and  truly.  He  fed  us  with 
counsel  when  we  were  in  doubt,  with  inspiration 
when  we  sometimes  faltered,  with  caution  when 
we  would  be  rash,  with  calm,  clear,  trustful  cheer 
fulness  through  many  an  hour,  when  our  hearts 


A  TYPICAL  AMERICAN  303 

were  dark.  He  fed  hungry  souls  all  over  the 
country  with  sympathy  and  consolation.  He  spread 
before  the  whole  land  feasts  of  great  duty  and  de 
votion  and  patriotism,  on  which  the  land  grew 
strong.  He  fed  us  with  solemn,  solid  truths. 
He  taught  us  the  sacredness  of  government,  the 
wickedness  of  treason.  He  made  our  souls  glad 
and  vigorous  with  the  love  of  liberty  that  was  in 
his.  He  showed  us  how  to  love  truth  and  yet  be 
charitable  —  how  to  hate  wrong  and  all  oppres 
sion,  and  yet  not  treasure  one  personal  injury  or 
insult.  He  fed  all  his  people,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  from  the  most  privileged  down  to  the 
most  enslaved.  Best  of  all,  he  fed  us  with  a  rever 
ent  and  genuine  religion.  He  spread  before  us 
the  love  and  fear  of  God  just  in  that  shape  in 
which  we  need  them  most,  and  out  of  his  faithful 
service  of  a  higher  Master,  who  of  us  has  not 
taken  and  eaten  and  grown  strong  ?  "  He  fed 
them  with  a  faithful  and  true  heart."  Yes,  till 
the  last.  For  at  the  last,  behold  him  standing 
with  hand  reached  out  to  feed  the  South  with 
mercy,  and  the  North  with  charity,  and  the  whole 
land  with  peace,  when  the  Lord  who  had  sent  him 
called  him,  and  his  work  was  done ! 

He  stood  once  on  the  battlefield  of  our  own 
State,  and  said  of  the  brave  men  who  had  saved 
it,  words  as  noble  as  any  countryman  of  ours  ever 
spoke.  Let  us  stand  in  the  country  he  has  saved, 
and  which  is  to  be  his  grave  and  monument,  and 
say  of  Abraham  Lincoln  what  he  said  of  the  soldiers 


304  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

who  had  died  at  Gettysburg.  He  stood  there  with 
their  graves  before  him,  and  these  are  the  words 
he  said : 

"  We  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we 
cannot  hallow  this  ground.  These  brave  men  who 
struggled  here  have  consecrated  it  far  beyond  our 
power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little 
note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for 
us  the  living  rather  to  be  dedicated  to  the  un 
finished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us 
to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining 
before  us,  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they 
gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion ;  that  we  here 
highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died 
in  vain ;  and  this  nation,  under  God  shall  have  a 
new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 

May  God  make  us  worthy  of  the  memory  of 
Abraham  Lincoln ! 


LINCOLN    AS    CAVALIER   AND    PURITAN 

BY    H.    W.    GRADY 

The  virtues  and  traditions  of  both  happily  still 
live  for  the  inspiration  of  their  sons  and  the  sav 
ing  of  the  old  fashion.  But  both  Puritan  and 
Cavalier  were  lost  in  the  storm  of  their  first  revo- 


CAVALIER  AND  PURITAN  305 

lution,  and  the  American  citizen,  supplanting  both, 
and  stronger  than  either,  took  possession  of  the 
Republic  bought  by  their  common  blood  and  fash 
ioned  in  wisdom,  and  charged  himself  with  teach 
ing  men  free  government  and  establishing  the 
voice  of  the  people  as  the  voice  of  God.  Great 
types  like  valuable  plants  are  slow  to  flower  and 
fruit.  But  from  the  union  of  these  colonists,  from 
the  straightening  of  their  purposes  and  the  cross 
ing  of  their  blood,  slow  perfecting  through  a  cen 
tury,  came  he  who  stands  as  the  first  typical  Ameri 
can,  the  first  who  comprehended  within  himself 
all  the  strength  and  gentleness,  all  the  majesty  and 
grace  of  this  Republic  —  Abraham  Lincoln.  He 
was  the  sum  of  Puritan  and  Cavalier,  for  in  his 
ardent  nature  were  fused  the  virtues  of  both,  and 
in  the  depths  of  his  great  soul  the  faults  of  both 
were  lost.  He  was  greater  than  Puritan,  greater 
than  Cavalier,  in  that  he  was  American,  and  that 
in  his  homely  form  were  first  gathered  the  vast 
and  thrilling  forces  of  this  ideal  government  — 
charging  it  with  such  tremendous  meaning  and 
so  elevating  it  above  human  suffering  that  martyr 
dom,  though  infamously  aimed  came  as  a  fitting 
crown  to  a  life  consecrated  from  its  cradle  to 
human  liberty.  Let  us,  each  cherishing  his  tra 
ditions  and  honoring  his  fathers,  build  with  rever 
ent  hands  to  the  type  of  this  simple  but  sublime 
life,  in  which  all  types  are  honored,  and  in  the 
common  glory  we  shall  win  as  Americans,  there 
will  be  plenty  and  to  spare  for  your  forefathers  and 
for  mine. 


306  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

LINCOLN,   THE   TENDER-HEARTED 

BY    H.    W.    BOLTON 

His  biography  is  written  in  blood  and  tears; 
uncounted  millions  arise  and  call  him  blessed;  a 
redeemed  and  reunited  republic  is  his  monument. 
History  embalms  the  memory  of  Richard  the  Lion- 
Hearted;  here,  too,  our  martyr  finds  loyal  sepul 
ture  as  Lincoln  the  tender-hearted. 

He  was  brave.  While  assassins  swarmed  in 
Washington,  he  went  everywhere,  without  guard 
or  arms.  He  was  magnanimous.  He  harbored 
no  grudge,  nursed  no  grievance ;  was  quick  to  for 
give,  and  was  anxious  for  reconciliation.  Hear 
him  appealing  to  the  South :  "  We  are  not  ene 
mies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies. 
Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not 
break,  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords 
of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
patriot  grave  to  every  loving  heart  and  hearth 
stone,  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as 
surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature." 

He  was  compassionate.  With  what  joy  he 
brought  liberty  to  the  enslaved.  He  was  forgiv 
ing.  In  this  respect  he  was  strikingly  suggestive 
of  the  Saviour.  He  was  great.  Time  will  but 
augment  the  greatness  of  his  name  and  fame. 
Perhaps  a  greater  man  never  ruled  in  this  or  any 


CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN          307 

other  nation.  He  was  good  and  pure  and  incor 
ruptible.  He  was  a  patriot ;  he  loved  his  country ; 
he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death  for  it.  He  was 
human,  and  thus  touched  the  chord  that  makes  the 
whole  world  kin. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN 

BY  W.   H.  HERNDON    (LINCOLN'S  LAW  PARTNER) 

The  true  peculiarity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  not  been 
seen  by  his  various  biographers ;  or,  if  seen,  they 
have  failed  wofully  to  give  it  that  prominence 
which  it  deserves.  It  is  said  that  Newton  saw 
an  apple  fall  to  the  ground  from  a  tree,  and  beheld 
the  law  of  the  universe  in  that  fall ;  Shakespeare 
saw  human  nature  in  the  laugh  of  a  man;  Profes 
sor  Owen  saw  the  animal  in  its  claw ;  and  Spencer 
saw  the  evolution  of  the  universe  in  the  growth  of 
a  seed.  Nature  was  suggestive  to  all  these  men. 
Mr.  Lincoln  no  less  saw  philosophy  in  a  story,  and 
a  schoolmaster  in  a  joke.  No  man,  no  men,  saw 
nature,  fact,  thing,  or  man  from  his  stand-point. 
His  was  a  new  and  original  position,  which  was 
always  suggesting,  hinting  something  to  him.  Na 
ture,  insinuations,  hints  and  suggestions  were  new, 
fresh,  original  and  odd  to  him.  The  world,  fact, 
man,  principle,  all  had  their  powers  of  suggestion 
to  his  susceptible  soul.  They  continually  put  him 
in  mind  of  something.  He  was  odd,  fresh,  new, 
original,  and  peculiar,  for  this  reason,  that  he  was 


308  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

a  new,  odd,  and  original  creation  and  fact.  He 
had  keen  susceptibilities  to  the  hints  and  sugges 
tions  of  nature,  which  always  put  him  in  mind  of 
something  known  or  unknown.  Hence  his  power 
and  tenacity  of  what  is  called  association  of  ideas 
must  have  been  great.  His  memory  was  tenacious 
and  strong.  His  susceptibility  to  all  suggestions 
and  hints  enabled  him  at  will  to  call  up  readily  the 
associated  and  classified  fact  and  idea. 

As  an  evidence  of  this,  especially  peculiar  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  let  me  ask  one  question.  Were  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  expression  and  language  odd  and  original, 
standing  out  peculiar  from  those  of  all  other  men? 
What  does  this  imply?  Oddity  and  originality  of 
vision  as  well  as  expression;  and  what  is  expres 
sion  in  words  and  human  language,  but  a  telling  of 
what  we  see,  defining  the  idea  arising  from  and 
created  by  vision  and  view  in  us?  Words  and 
language  are  but  the  counterparts  of  the  idea  — 
the  other  half  of  the  idea;  they  are  but  the  sting 
ing,  hot,  heavy,  leaden  bullets  that  drop  from  the 
mold ;  and  what  are  they  in  a  rifle  with  powder 
stuffed  behind  them  and  fire  applied,  but  an  em 
bodied  force  pursuing  their  object?  So  are  words 
an  embodied  power  feeling  for  comprehension  in 
other  minds.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  often  perplexed  to 
give  expression  to  his  ideas :  first,  because  he  was 
not  master  of  the  English  language :  and,  secondly, 
because  there  were  no  words  in  it  containing  the 
coloring,  shape,  exactness,  power,  and  gravity  of 
his  ideas.  He  was  frequently  at  a  loss  for  a  word, 
and  hence  was  compelled  to  resort  to  stories,  max- 


CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN  309 

ims,  and  jokes  to  embody  his  idea,  that  it  might  be 
comprehended.  So  true  was  this  peculiar  mental 
vision  of  his,  that  though  mankind  has  been  gather 
ing,  arranging,  and  classifying  facts  for  thousands 
of  years,  Lincoln's  peculiar  stand-point  could  give 
him  no  advantage  of  other  men's  labor.  Hence  he 
tore  up  to  the  deep  foundations  all  arrangements  of 
facts,  and  coined  and  arranged  new  plans  to  govern 
himself.  He  was  compelled,  from  his  peculiar 
mental  organization,  to  do  this.  His  labor  was 
great,  continuous,  patient  and  all-enduring. 

The  truth  about  this  whole  matter  is  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  read  less  and  thought  more  than  any  man 
in  his  sphere  in  America.  No  man  can  put  his 
finger  on  any  great  book  written  in  the  last  or 
present  century  that  he  read.  When  young  he  read 
the  Bible,  and  when  of  age  he  read  Shakes 
peare.  This  latter  book  was  scarcely  ever  out 
of  his  mind.  Mr.  Lincoln  is  acknowledged  to 
have  been  a  great  man,  but  the  question  is,  what 
made  him  great?  I  repeat,  that  he  read  less  and 
thought  more  than  any  man  of  his  standing  in 
America,  if  not  in  the  world.  He  possessed  origi 
nality  and  power  of  thought  in  an  eminent  degree. 
He  was  cautious,  cool,  concentrated,  with  continu 
ity  of  reflection;  was  patient  and  enduring.  These 
are  some  of  the  grounds  of  his  wonderful  success. 

Not  only  was  nature,  man,  fact  and  principle  sug 
gestive  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  not  only  had  he  accurate 
and  exact  perceptions,  but  he  was  causative,  i.  e., 
his  mind  ran  back  behind  all  facts,  things  and 
principles  to  their  origin,  history  and  first  cause,  to 


3io  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

that  point  where  forces  act  at  once  as  effect  and 
cause.  He  would  stop  and  stand  in  the  street  and 
analyze  a  machine.  He  would  whittle  things  to  a 
point,  and  then  count  the  numberless  inclined 
planes,  and  their  pitch,  making  the  point.  Mas 
tering  and  defining  this,  he  would  then  cut  that 
point  back,  and  get  a  broad  transverse  section  of 
his  pine  stick,  and  peel  and  define  that.  Clocks, 
omnibuses  and  language,  paddle-wheels  and  idioms, 
never  escaped  his  observation  and  analysis.  Be 
fore  he  could  form  any  idea  of  anything,  before  he 
would  express  his  opinion  on  any  subject,  he  must 
know  it  in  origin  and  history,  in  substance  and 
quality,  in  magnitude  and  gravity.  He  must  know 
his  subject  inside  and  outside,  upside  and  down 
side.  He  searched  his  own  mind  and  nature  thor 
oughly,  as  I  have  often  heard  him  say.  He  must 
analyze  a  sensation,  an  idea,  and  words,  and  run 
them  back  to  their  origin,  history,  purpose  and  des 
tiny.  He  was  most  emphatically  a  remorseless  an 
alyzer  of  facts,  things  and  principles.  When  all 
these  processes  had  been  well  and  thoroughly  gone 
through,  he  could  form  an  opinion  and  express  it, 
but  no  sooner.  He  had  no  faith.  "  Say  so's  "  he 
had  no  respect  for,  coming  though  they  might  from 
tradition,  power  or  authority. 

All  things,  facts  and  principles  had  to  run 
through  his  crucible  and  be  tested  by  the  fires  of 
his  analytic  mind;  and  hence,  when  he  did  speak, 
his  utterances  rang  out  gold-like,  quick,  keen  and 
current  upon  the  counters  of  the  understanding. 
He  reasoned  logically,  through  analogy  and  com- 


CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN  311 

parison.  All  opponents  dreaded  him  in  his  origi 
nality  of  idea,  condensation,  definition  and  force  of 
expression,  and  woe  be  to  the  man  who  hugged  to 
his  bosom  a  secret  error  if  Mr.  Lincoln  got  on  the 
chase  of  it.  I  say,  woe  to  him!  Time  could  hide 
the  error  in  no  nook  or  corner  of  space  in  which  he 
would  not  detect  and  expose  it. 

The  great  predominating  elements  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  peculiar  character,  were :  First,  his  great  ca 
pacity  and  power  of  reason ;  secondly,  his  excellent 
understanding ;  thirdly,  an  exalted  idea  of  the  sense 
of  right  and  equity;  and,  fourthly,  his  intense  ven 
eration  of  what  was  true  and  good.  His  reason 
ruled  despotically  all  other  faculties  and  qualities 
of  his  mind.  His  conscience  and  heart  were  ruled 
by  it.  His  conscience  was  ruled  by  one  faculty  — 
reason.  His  heart  was  ruled  by  two  faculties  — 
reason  and  conscience.  I  know  it  is  generally  be 
lieved  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  heart,  his  love  and  kind 
ness,  his  tenderness  and  benevolence,  were  his  rul 
ing  qualities ;  but  this  opinion  is  erroneous  in  every 
particular.  First,  as  to  his  reason.  He  dwelt  in 
the  mind,  not  in  the  conscience,  and  not  in  the 
heart.  He  lived  and  breathed  and  acted  from  his 
reason  —  the  throne  of  logic  and  the  home  of  prin 
ciple,  the  realm  of  Deity  in  man.  It  is  from  this 
point  that  Mr.  Lincoln  must  be  viewed.  His 
views  were  correct  and  original.  He  was  cautious 
not  to  be  deceived;  he  was  patient  and  enduring. 
He  had  concentration  and  great  continuity  of 
thought;  he  had  a  profound  analytic  power  j  his 


312  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

visions  were  clear,  and  he  was  emphatically  the 
master  of  statement.  His  pursuit  of  the  truth  was 
indefatigable,  terrible.  He  reasoned  from  his  well- 
chosen  principles  ,with  such  clearness,  force,  and 
compactness,  that  the  tallest  intellects  in  the  land 
bowed  to  him  with  respect.  He  was  the  strongest 
man  I  ever  saw,  looking  at  him  from  the  stand 
point  of  his  reason  —  the  throne  of  his  logic.  He 
came  down  from  that  height  with  an  irresistible  and 
crushing  force.  His  printed  speeches  will  prove 
this;  but  his  speeches  before  courts,  especially  be 
fore  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  State  and  Nation, 
would  demonstrate  it:  unfortunately,  none  of  them 
have  been  preserved.  Here  he  demanded  time  to 
think  and  prepare.  The  office  of  reason  is  to  de 
termine  the  truth.  Truth  is  the  power  of  reason  — 
the  child  of  reason.  He  loved  and  idolized  truth 
for  its  own  sake.  It  was  reason's  food. 

Conscience,  the  second  great  quality  and  force 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character,  is  that  faculty  which 
loves  the  just:  its  office  is  justice;  right  and  equity 
are  its  correlatives.  It  decides  upon  all  acts  of  all 
people  at  all  times.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  deep,  broad, 
living  conscience.  His  great  reason  told  him  what 
was  true,  good  and  bad,  right,  wrong,  just  or  unjust, 
and  his  conscience  echoed  back  its  decision ;  and  it 
was  from  this  point  that  he  acted  and  spoke  and 
wove  his  character  and  fame  among  us.  His  con 
science  ruled  his  heart ;  he  was  always  just  before  he 
was  gracious.  This  was  his  motto,  his  glory:  and 
this  is  as  it  should  be.  It  cannot  be  truthfully  said 
of  any  mortal  man  that  he  was  always  just.  Mr, 


CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN  313 

Lincoln  was  not  always  just;  but  his  great  general 
life  was.  It  follows  that  if  Mr.  Lincoln  had  great 
reason  and  great  conscience,  he  was  an  honest  man. 
His  great  and  general  life  was  honest,  and  he  was 
justly  and  rightfully  entitled  to  the  appellation, 
"  Honest  Abe."  Honesty  was  his  great  polar  star. 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  also  a  good  understanding;  that 
is,  the  faculty  that  understands  and  comprehends 
the  exact  state  of  things,  their  near  and  remote  re 
lations.  The  understanding  does  not  necessarily 
inquire  for  the  reason  of  things.  I  must  here  re 
peat  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  odd  and  original 
man ;  he  lived  by  himself  and  out  of  himself.  He 
could  not  absorb.  He  was  a  very  sensitive  man, 
unobtrusive  and  gentlemanly,  and  often  hid  him 
self  in  the  common  mass  of  men,  in  order  to  pre 
vent  the  discovery  of  his  individuality.  He  had 
no  insulting  egotism,  and  no  pompous  pride ;  no 
haughtiness,  and  no  aristocracy.  He  was  not  in 
different,  however,  to  approbation  and  public 
opinion.  He  was  not  an  upstart,  and  had  no  in 
solence.  He  was  a  meek,  quiet,  unobtrusive  gentle 
man.  .  .  .  Read  Mr.  Lincoln's  speeches,  let 
ters,  messages  and  proclamations,  read  his  whole 
record  in  his  actual  life,  and  you  cannot  fail  to 
perceive  that  he  had  good  understanding.  He  un 
derstood  and  fully  comprehended  himself,  and  what 
he  did  and  why  he  did  it,  better  than  most  living 
men. 

There  are  contradictory  opinions  in  reference  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  heart  and  humanity.     One  opinion  is 


314  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

that  he  was  cold  and  obdurate,  and  the  other  opin 
ion  is  that  he  was  warm  and  affectionate.  I  have 
shown  you  that  Mr.  Lincoln  first  lived  and 
breathed  upon  the  world  from  his  head  and  con 
science.  I  have  attempted  to  show  you  that  he 
lived  and  breathed  upon  the  world  through  the  ten 
der  side  of  his  heart,  subject  at  all  times  and  places 
to  the  logic  of  his  reason,  and  to  his  exalted  sense 
of  right  and  equity;  namely,  his  conscience.  He 
always  held  his  conscience  subject  to  his  head; 
he  held  his  heart  always  subject  to  his  head  and 
conscience.  His  heart  was  the  lowest  organ,  the 
weakest  of  the  three.  Some  men  would  reverse 
this  order,  and  declare  that  his  heart  was  his 
ruling  organ;  that  always  manifested  itself  with 
love,  regardless  of  truth  and  justice,  right  and 
equity.  The  question  still  is,  was  Mr.  Lincoln  a 
cold,  heartless  man,  or  a  warm,  affectionate  man? 
Can  a  man  be  a  warm-hearted  man  who  is  all  head 
and  conscience,  or  nearly  so?  What,  in  the  first 
place,  do  we  mean  by  a  warm-hearted  man?  Is  it 
one  who  goes  out  of  himself  and  reaches  for  others 
spontaneously  because  of  a  deep  love  of  humanity, 
apart  from  equity  and  truth,  and  does  what  it  does 
for  love's  sake?  If  so,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  cold 
man.  Or,  do  we  mean  that  when  a  human  being, 
man  or  child,  approached  him  in  behalf  of  a  matter 
of  right,  and  that  the  prayer  of  such  a  one  was 
granted,  that  this  is  an  evidence  of  his  love?  The 
African  was  enslaved,  his  rights  were  violated,  and 
a  principle  was  violated  in  them.  Rights  imply  ob 
ligations  as  well  as  duties.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  Presi- 


CHARACTER  OF  LINCOLN  315 

dent;  he  was  in  a  position  that  made  it  his  duty, 
through  his  sense  of  right,  his  love  of  principle,  his 
constitutional  obligations  imposed  upon  him  by 
oath  of  office,  to  strike  the  blow  against  slavery. 
But  did  he  do  it  for  love?  He  himself  has  an 
swered  the  question :  "  I  would  not  free  the  slaves 
if  I  could  preserve  the  Union  without  it."  I  use 
this  argument  against  his  too  enthusiastic  friends. 
If  you  mean  that  this  is  love  for  love's  sake,  then 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  warm-hearted  man  —  not  other 
wise.  To  use  a  general  expression,  his  general  life 
was  cold.  He  had,  however,  a  strong  latent  ca 
pacity  to  love;  but  the  object  must  first  come  as 
principle,  second  as  right,  and  third  as  lovely.  He 
loved  abstract  humanity  when  it  was  oppressed. 
This  was  an  abstract  love,  not  concrete  in  the  in 
dividual,  as  said  by  some.  He  rarely  used  the  term 
love,  yet  was  he  tender  and  gentle.  He  gave  the 
key-note  to  his  own  character  when  he  said,  "  with 
malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,"  he 
did  what  he  did.  He  had  no  intense  loves,  and 
hence  no  hates  and  no  malice.  He  had  a  broad 
charity  for  imperfect  man,  and  let  us  imitate  his 
great  life  in  this. 

"  But  was  not  Mr.  Lincoln  a  man  of  great  hu 
manity  ?  "  asks  a  friend  at  my  elbow,  a  little  an 
grily  ;  to  which  I  reply,  "  Has  not  that  question 
been  answered  already?"  Let  us  suppose  that  it 
has  not.  We  must  understand  each  other.  What 
do  you  mean  by  humanity?  Do  you  mean  that  he 
had  much  of  human  nature  in  him?  If  so,  I  will 
grant  that  he  was  a  man  of  humanity.  Do  you 


3i6  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

mean,  if  the  above  definition  is  unsatisfactory,  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  tender  and  kind?  Then  I  agree 
with  you.  But  if  you  mean  to  say  that  he  so 
loved  a  man  that  he  would  sacrifice  truth  and  right 
for  him,  for  love's  sake,  then  he  was  not  a  man  of 
humanity.  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  he  so  loved 
man,  for  love's  sake,  that  his  heart  led  him  out  of 
himself,  and  compelled  him  to  go  in  search  of  the 
objects  of  his  love,  for  their  sake?  He  never,  to 
my  knowledge,  manifested  this  side  of  his  charac 
ter.  Such  is  the  law  of  human  nature,  that  it  can 
not  be  all  head,  all  conscience,  and  all  heart  at  one 
and  the  same  time  in  one  and  the  same  person. 
Our  Maker  made  it  so,  and  where  God  through 
reason  blazed  the  path,  walk  therein  boldly.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  glory  and  power  lay  in  the  just  combina 
tion  of  head,  conscience,  and  heart,  and  it  is  here 
that  his  fame  must  rest,  or  not  at  all. 

Not  only  were  Mr.  Lincoln's  perceptions  good; 
not  only  was  nature  suggestive  to  him ;  not  only 
was  he  original  and  strong;  not  only  had  he  great 
reason,  good  understanding;  not  only  did  he  love 
the  true  and  good  —  the  eternal  right;  not  only 
was  he  tender  and  kind  —  but  in  due  proportion 
and  in  legitimate  subordination,  had  he  a  glorious 
combination  of  them  all.  Through  his  percep 
tions  —  the  suggestiveness  of  nature,  his  originality 
and  strength;  through  his  magnificent  reason,  his 
understanding,  his  conscience,  his  tenderness  and 
kindness,  his  heart,  rather  than  love  —  he  approxi 
mated  as  nearly  as  most  human  beings  in  this  im 
perfect  state  to  an  embodiment  of  the  great  moral 


"WITH  CHARITY  FOR  ALL"         317 

principle,  "  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  they  should 
do  unto  you." 


"  WITH  CHARITY  FOR  ALL  " 

BY    WILLIAM    T.    SHERMAN 

I  know,  when  I  left  him,  that  I  was  more  than 
ever  impressed  by  his  kindly  nature,  his  deep  and 
earnest  sympathy  with  the  afflictions  of  the  whole 
people,  resulting  from  the  war,  and  by  the  march 
of  hostile  armies  through  the  South;  and  that  his 
earnest  desire  seemed  to  be  to  end  the  war  speedily, 
without  more  bloodshed  or  devastation,  and  to  re 
store  all  the  men  of  both  sections  to  their  homes. 
In  the  language  of  his  second  inaugural  address  he 
seemed  to  have  "  charity  for  all,  malice  toward 
none,"  and,  above  all,  an  absolute  faith  in  the  cour 
age,  manliness,  and  integrity  of  the  armies  in  the 
field.  When  at  rest  or  listening,  his  legs  and  arms 
seemed  to  hang  almost  lifeless,  and  his  face  was 
care-worn  and  haggard;  but  the  moment  he  began 
to  talk  his  face  lightened  up,  his  tall  form,  as  it 
were,  unfolded,  and  he  was  the  very  impersonation 
of  good-humor  and  fellowship.  The  last  words  I 
recall  as  addressed  to  me  were  that  he  would  feel 
better  when  I  was  back  at  Goldsboro'.  We  parted 
at  the  gang-way  of  the  River  Queen  about  noon  of 
March  28th,  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  Of  all  the 
men  I  ever  met,  he  seemed  to  possess  more  of  the 
elements  of  greatness,  combined  with  goodness, 
than  any  other. 


318  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

IDA  VOSE    WOODBURY 

Again  thy  birthday  dawns,  O  man  beloved, 

Dawns  on  the  land  thy  blood  was  shed  to  save, 

And  hearts  of  millions,  by  one  impulse  moved, 
Bow  and  fresh  laurels  lay  upon  thy  grave. 

The  years  but  add  new  luster  to  thy  glory, 
And  watchmen  on  the  heights  of  vision  see 

Reflected  in  thy  life  the  old,  old  story, 
The  story  of  the  Man  of  Galilee. 

We  see  in  thee  the  image  of  Him  kneeling 
Before  the  close-shut  tomb,  and  at  the  word 

"  Come  forth,"  from  out  the  blackness  long  conceal 
ing 
There  rose  a  man ;  clearly  again  was  heard 

The  Master's  voice,  and  then,  his  cerements  broken, 
Friends  of  the  dead  a  living  brother  see ; 

Thou,  at  the  tomb  where  millions  lay,  hast  spoken : 
"  Loose  him  and  let  him  go !  "  —  the  slave  was 
free. 

And  in  the  man  so  long  in  thraldom  hidden 
We  see  the  likeness  of  the  Father's  face, 

Clod  changed  to  soul;  by  thy  atonement  bidden, 
We  hasten  to  the  uplift  of  a  race. 


FEBRUARY  TWELFTH  319 

Spirit  of  Lincoln  !     Summon  all  thy  loyal ; 

Nerve  them  to  follow  where  thy  feet  have  trod. 
To  prove,  by  voice  as  clear  and  deed  as  royal, 

Man's  brotherhood  in  our  one  Father  —  God. 


FEBRUARY  TWELFTH 

BY  MARY  H.   HOWLISTON 

It  was  early  in  the  evening  in  a  shop  where  flags 
were  sold. 

There  were  large  flags,  middle-sized  flags,  small 
flags  and  little  bits  of  flags.  The  finest  of  all  was 
Old  Glory.  Old  Glory  was  made  of  silk  and  hung 
in  graceful  folds  from  the  wall. 

"  Attention !  "  called  Old  Glory. 

Starry  eyes  all  over  the  room  looked  at  him. 

"  What  day  of  the  month  is  it?" 

"  February  Twelfth,"  quickly  answered  the  flags. 

"  Whose  birthday  is  it?  "     "  Abraham  Lincoln's," 

"  Where  is  he  buried?  "     "  Springfield,  Illinois." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Old  Glory,  "  you  are  to  take 
some  of  Uncle  Sam's  children  there  to-night." 

"  Yes,  captain,"  said  the  flags,  wondering  what 
he  meant. 

"  First,  I  must  know  whether  you  are  good 
American  flags.  How  many  red  stripes  have 
you?" 

"  Seven !  "  was  the  answer. 

"  How  many  white  stripes  ?  "     "  Six !  " 


320  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

"How  many  stars?"  "Forty-five!"  shouted 
the  large  flags. 

The  little  ones  said  nothing. 

"  Ah,  I  see,"  said  Old  Glory,  "  but  you  are  not  to 
blame.  Do  you  see  that  open  transom  ?  "  he  went 
on.  "  Go  through  it  into  the  street,  put  your  staffs 
into  the  hands  of  any  little  boys  you  find  and  bring 
them  here." 

"Yes,  captain,"  called  the  flags,  as  they  fluttered 
away. 

Last  of  all,  Old  Glory  pulled  his  silken  stripes 
into  the  hallway  and  waited  for  the  flags  to  come 
back.  "  It's  much  too  cold  for  little  girls,"  he  said 
to  himself.  "  Their  pretty  noses  might  freeze." 

By  and  by  the  flags  came  back,  each  bringing  a 
small  boy.  Old  Glory  looked  at  them. 

"  What's  the  matter?  "  said  he;  "  you  don't  seem 
pleased." 

No  one  spoke,  the  little  boys  stared  with  round 
eyes  at  Old  Glory,  but  held  tightly  to  the  flags. 

At  last  one  of  the  flags  said :  "  Please,  captain, 
these  are  the  only  little  boys  we  could  find." 

"Well!"  said  Old  Glory. 

"  And  we  think  they  don't  belong  to  Uncle  Sam," 
was  the  answer. 

"Why  not?"  said  Old  Glory. 

"  Some  of  them  are  ragged,"  called  one  flag. 

"  And  some  are  dirty,"  said  another. 

"  This  one  is  a  colored  boy,"  said  another. 

"  Some  of  them  can't  speak  English  at  all." 

"  The  one  I  found,  why,  he  blacks  boots !  " 

"  And  mine  is  a  newsboy." 


FEBRUARY  TWELFTH  321 

"  Mine  sleeps  in  a  dry  goods  box." 

"  Mine  plays  a  violin  on  the  street  corner." 

"  Just  look  at  mine,  captain ! ''  said  the  last  flag 
proudly,  when  the  rest  were  through. 

"  What  about  him?  "  asked  Old  Glory. 

"  I'm  sure  he  belongs  to  Uncle  Sam ;  he  lives  in 
a  brown-stone  house  and  he  wears  such  good 
clothes !  " 

"  Of  course  I  belong  to  Uncle  Sam,"  said  the 
brown-stone  boy  quickly,  "  but  I  think  these  street 
boys  do  not." 

"  There,  there!  "  said  Old  Glory;  "  I'll  telephone 
to  Washington  and  find  out,"  and  Old  Glory 
floated  away. 

The  little  boys  watched  and  waited. 

Back  came  Old  Glory. 

"  It's  all  right,"  said  he,  "Uncle  Sam  says  every 
one  of  you  belongs  to  him  and  he  wants  you  to  be 
brave  and  honest,  for  some  day  he  may  need  you 
for  soldiers ;  oh,  yes !  and  he  said,  '  Tell  those  poor 
little  chaps  who  have  such  a  hard  time  of  it  and 
no  one  to  help  them,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  poor 
boy  too,  and  yet  he  was  the  grandest  and  best  of 
all  my  sons." 

The  moon  was  just  rising. 

It  made  the  snow  and  ice  shine. 

"  It's  almost  time,"  said  Old  Glory  softly. 

"  Hark !  you  must  not  wink,  nor  cough  nor 
sneeze  nor  move  for  three-quarters  of  a  minute !  " 

That  was  dreadful ! 

The  newsboy  swallowed  a  cough. 


322  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

The  boot-black  held  his  breath  for  fear  of  sneez 
ing. 

The  brown-stone  boy  shut  his  eyes  so  as  not  to 
wink. 

They  all  stood  as  if  turned  to  stone. 

Tinkle,  tinkle,  tinkle,  came  a  faint  sound  of  bells. 

Nothing  else  was  heard  but  the  beating  of  their 
own  hearts. 

In  exactly  three-quarters  of  a  minute,  Old  Glory 
said,  "  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  " 

Behold !  a  wonderful  fairy  sleigh,  white  as  a 
snowdrift,  and  shining  in  the  moonlight  as  if 
covered  with  diamond  dust. 

It  was  piled  high  with  softest  cushions  and  robes 
of  fur. 

It  was  drawn  by  thirteen  fairy  horses,  with  arch 
ing  necks  and  flowing  manes  and  tails. 

Each  horse  wore  knots  of  red,  white  and  blue  at 
his  ears  and  the  lines  were  wound  with  ribbons  of 
the  same. 

"  Jump  in,"  said  Old  Glory. 

Into  the  midst  of  the  cushions  and  furs  they 
sprang. 

Crack  went  the  whip,  tinkle  went  the  bells. 
Over  the  house-tops,  through  the  frosty  air,  among 
the  moonbeams,  up  and  away  sailed  fairy  horses 
and  sleigh,  American  flags  and  Uncle  Sam's  boys. 

Santa  Clans  with  his  reindeer  never  went  faster. 

Presently  the  tinkling  bells  were  hushed,  and  the 
fairy  horses  stood  very  still  before  the  tomb  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 


TWO  BIRTHDAYS  323 

"  Come,"  said  Old  Glory,  and  he  led  them  in 
side. 

You  must  get  your  father  or  mother  to  tell  you 
what  they  saw  there. 

Just  before  they  left,  a  dirty  little  hand  touched 
Old  Glory  and  a  shrill  little  voice  said :  "  I'd  like 
to  leave  my  flag  here.  May  I  ?  " 

"  And  may  I  ?  "  said  another. 

Old  Glory  looked  around  and  saw  the  same  wish 
in  the  other  faces. 

"  You  forget,"  said  he,  "  that  the  flags  are  not 
yours.  It  would  not  be  right  to  keep  them.  What 
did  the  people  call  Mr.  Lincoln  ?  You  don't  know  ? 
Well,  I'll  tell  you.  It  was  '  Honest  Old  Abe,'  and 
Uncle  Sam  wants  you  to  be  like  him." 

Again  the  merry  bells  tinkled,  again  the  proud 
horses,  with  their  flowing  manes  and  tails,  sprang 
into  the  air,  and  before  the  moon  had  said  "  good 
night  "  to  the  earth,  they  were  back  at  the  flag  shop. 

The  very  moment  they  reached  it,  horses  and 
sleigh,  cushions  and  robes,  melted  away  and  the 
children  saw  them  no  more. 


TWO  FEBRUARY  BIRTHDAYS 
(Exercise  for  the  Schoolroom) 

BY   LIZZIE   M.    HADLEY   AND   CLARA  J.   DENTON 
FOR  EIGHT   BOYS. 

This  dialogue,  or  exercise,  is  to  be  given  by  eight 
boys.     While  they  and  the  school  are  singing  the  first 


324  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

song  the  boys  march  upon  the  stage  and  form  into  a 
semicircle,  the  four  boys  speaking  for  Washington  on 
the  right,  the  other  four  (for  Lincoln)  on  the  left. 
Portraits  of  Washington  and  Lincoln  should  be  placed 
in  a  convenient  position  on  the  stage  beneath  a  double 
arch  wreathed  with  evergreens.  The  portraits  should 
be  draped  with  American  flags.  Each  one  of  the  boys 
should  wear  a  small  American  flag  pinned  to  his  coat. 

SONG.    TUNE,  Rally  'Round  the  Flag 

We  are  marching  from  the  East, 
We  are  marching  from  the  West, 

Singing  the  praises  of  a  nation. 
That  all  the  world  may  hear 
Of  the  men  we  hold  so  dear, 

Singing  the  praises  of  a  nation. 

CHORUS 

For  Washington  and  Lincoln, 

Hurrah,  all  hurrah, 
Sing  as  we  gather 

Here  from  afar, 
Yes,  for  Washington  and  Lincoln, 

Let  us  ever  sing, 
Sing  all  the  praises  of  a  nation. 

Yes,  we  love  to  sing  this  song, 
As  we  proudly  march  along, 

Singing  the  praises  of  the  heroes. 
Through  this  great  and  happy  land, 
We  would  sound  their  names  so  grand. 

Singing  the  praises  of  our  heroes. 


TWO  BIRTHDAYS  325 

CHORUS 

ALL:  We  have  come  to  tell  you  of  two  men 
whose  names  must  be  linked  together  as  long  as  the 
nation  shall  stand,  Washington  and  Lincoln.  They 
stand  for  patriotism,  goodness,  truth  and  true 
manliness.  Hand  in  hand  they  shall  go  down  the 
centuries  together. 

FIRST  SPEAKER  ON  THE  WASHINGTON  SIDE: 
Virginia  sends  you  greeting.  I  come  in  her  name 
in  honor  of  her  illustrious  son,  George  Washington, 
and  she  bids  me  tell  you  that  he  was  born  in  her 
state,  Feb.  22,  1732. 

ALL  :         'Twas  years  and  years  ago. 

FIRST  SPEAKER  :  Yes,  more  than  a  hundred  and 
seventy,  nearly  two  centuries. 

ALL  :     A  long  time  to  be  remembered. 

FIRST  SPEAKER  :  Yes,  but  Washington's  name 
is  still  cherished  and  honored  all  over  the  land 
which  his  valor  and  wisdom  helped  save,  and,  for 
generations  yet  to  come,  the  children  of  the  schools 
shall  give  him  a  million-tongued  fame. 

SECOND  SPEAKER  :  Vigrinia  bids  me  tell  you 
that  as  a  boy,  Washington  was  manly,  brave,  obedi 
ent  and  kind,  and  that  he  never  told  a  lie. 

SONG:  (Either  as  solo  or  chorus).  AIR,  What 
Can  the  Matter  Be? 

Dear,  dear,  who  can  believe  it? 
Dear,  dear,  who  can  conceive  it? 
Dear,  dear,  we  scarce  can  believe  that 
Never  did  he  tell  a  lie. 


326  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

O,  surely  temptation  must  oft  have  assailed  him, 
But  courage  and  honor  we  know  never  failed  him, 
So  let  us  all  follow  his  wondrous  example, 
And  never,  no  never  tell  lies. 
And  never,  no  never,  tell  lies. 

THIRD  SPEAKER  :  A  brave  and  manly  boy,  he 
began  work  early  in  life,  and,  in  1748,  when  only 
sixteen  years  old,  he  was  a  surveyor  of  lands,  and 
took  long  tramps  into  the  wilderness.  In  1775 
came  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  he  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  the  American  Army.  In 
1787  he  was  elected  president  of  the  convention 
which  framed  the  constitution  of  our  country. 

FOURTH  SPEAKER:  In  1789  he  was  chosen  first 
president  of  the  United  States.  He  was  re-elected 
in  1793  and,  at  the  close  of  the  second  term  he  re 
tired  to  private  life  at  his  beautiful  and  beloved 
home,  Mt.  Vernon.  He  died  there,  Dec.  14,  1799, 
honored  and  mourned  by  the  whole  nation,  and 
leaving  to  the  world  a  life  which  is  a  "  pattern  for 
all  public  men,  teaching  what  greatness  is  and  what 
is  the  pathway  to  undying  fame,"  and  richly  de 
serving  the  title,  "  Father  of  his  country." 

ALL  :  "  First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  he  was  second  to 
none  in  the  humble  and  endearing  scenes  of  private 
life. 

BOYS  REPRESENTING  LINCOLN  :  Washington  was 
a  great  and  good  man,  and  so,  too,  was  the  man 
whom  we  delight  to  honor,  whose  title,  "  Honest 
Abe,"  has  passed  into  the  language  of  our  times 


TWO  BIRTHDAYS  327 

as  a  synonym  for  all  that  is  just  and  honest  in  man. 

FIRST  SPEAKER  ON  THE  LINCOLN  SIDE:  Ken 
tucky  is  proud  to  claim  Abraham  Lincoln  as  one  of 
her  honored  sons,  and  she  bids  me  say  that  he  was 
born  in  that  state  in  Hardin  County,  Feb.  12,  1809. 
Indiana,  too,  claims  him,  he  was  her  son  by  adop 
tion,  for,  when  but  seven  years  old,  his  father 
moved  to  the  southwestern  part  of  that  state.  Il 
linois  also  has  a  claim  upon  him.  It  was  there  that 
he  helped  build  a  log  cabin  for  a  new  home,  and 
split  rails  to  fence  in  a  cornfield.  Afterwards  he 
split  rails  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  one  hundred  rails  for 
every  yard  of  cloth,  and  so  won  the  name,  "  The 
Rail-splitter." 

SECOND  SPEAKER:  In  1828  he  became  a  flat- 
boatman  and  twice  went  down  the  river  to  New 
Orleans.  In  1832  he  served  as  captain  of  a  com 
pany  in  the  Black  Hawk  War.  After  the  war  he 
kept  a  country  store,  and  won  a  reputation  for 
honesty.  Then,  for  a  while,  he  was  a  surveyor, 
next,  a  lawyer,  and  in  1834  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  of  Illinois. 

THIRD  SPEAKER  :  In  1846  he  was  made  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress,  in  1860  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  United  States. 

FOURTH  SPEAKER:  The  Civil  War  followed, 
and  in  1864  he  was  elected  president  for  the  second 
term.  On  April  14  he  was  shot  by  an  assassin  and 
died  on  the  morning  of  the  I5th. 


328  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

SONG  BY  SCHOOL:    AIR,  John  Brown's  Body 

In  spite   of   changing   seasons   of  the   years   that 

come  and  go, 
Still  his  name  to-day  is  cherished  in  the  hearts  of 

friend  and  foe, 
And  the  land  for  which  he  suffered  e'er  shall  honor 

him  we  know, 

While  truth  goes  marching  on. 

CHORUS 

BOTH  GROUPS  TOGETHER:  To  both  these  men, 
George  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  we, 
the  children  of  the  nation,  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  we  can  only  repay  by  a  lifetime  of  work, 
for  God,  humanity,  and  our  country.  Both  have 
left  behind  them  words  of  wisdom,  which,  if  heeded, 
will  make  us  wiser  and  better  boys  and  girls,  and 
so  wiser  and  better  men  and  women. 

TWO     BOYS     FROM     THE     WASHINGTON     GROUP: 

Washington  said,  "  Without  virtue  and  without  in 
tegrity,  the  finest  talents  and  the  most  brilliant  ac 
complishments  can  never  gain  the  respect  or  con 
ciliate  the  esteem  of  the  most  valuable  part  of  man 
kind." 

Two  BOYS  FROM  THE  LINCOLN  GROUP:  Lincoln 
said,  "  I  have  one  vote,  and  I  shall  always  cast  that 
against  wrong  as  long  as  I  live." 

Two  BOYS  FROM  WASHINGTON  GROUP:  "If  to 
please  the  people  we  offer  what  we  ourselves  dis 
approve,  how  can  we  afterwards  defend  our 
work?" 


TWO  BIRTHDAYS  329 

Two  BOYS  FROM  LINCOLN  GROUP  :     Lincoln  said, 
"  In  every  event  of  life,  it  is  right  makes  might." 

ALL:     O,  wise  and  great! 
Their  like,  perchance,  we  ne'er  shall  see  again, 
But  let  us  write  their  golden  words  upon  the  hearts 
of  men. 

SONG  :     TUNE  "  America  " 

Turn  now  unto  the  past, 
There,  long  as  life  shall  last, 
Their  names  you'll  find. 
Faithful  and  true  and  brave, 
Sent  here  our  land  to  save. 
Men  whom  our  father  gave, 
Brave,  true,  and  kind. 

{Exeunt) 


VIII 
LINCOLN'S  PLACE  IN  HISTORY 


THE  THREE  GREATEST   AMERICANS 

BY   THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

As  the  generations  slip  away,  as  the  dust  of  con 
flict  settles,  and  as  through  the  clearing  air  we 
look  back  with  keener  vision  into  the  Nation's  past, 
mightiest  among  the  mighty  dead,  loom  up  the 
three  great  figures  of  Washington,  Lincoln  and 
Grant.  These  three  greatest  men  have  taken  their 
places  among  the  great  men  of  all  nations,  the 
great  men  of  all  times.  They  stood  supreme  in  the 
two  great  crises  of  our  history,  in  the  two  great 
occasions,  when  we  stood  in  the  van  of  all  humanity, 
and  struck  the  most  effective  blows  that  have  ever 
been  struck  for  the  cause  of  human  freedom  under 
the  law. 


HIS  CHOICE  AND  HIS  DESTINY 

BY   F.    M.    BRISTOL 

As  God  appeared  to  Solomon  and  Joseph  in 
dreams  to  urge  them  to  make  wise  choices  for  the 
power  of  great  usefulness,  so  it  would  appear  that 
in  their  waking  dreams  the  Almighty  appeared  to 
such  history-making  souls  as  Paul  and  Constan- 
tine,  Alfred  the  Great,  Washington,  and  Lincoln. 
333 


334  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

It  was  the  commonest  kind  of  a  life  this  young 
Lincoln  was  living  on  the  frontier  of  civilization, 
but  out  of  that  commonest  kind  of  living  came  the 
uncommonest  kind  of  character  of  these  modern 
years,  the  sublimest  liberative  power  in  the  history 
of  freedom.  Lincoln  felt  there,,  as  a  great  awk 
ward  boy,  that  God  and  history  had  something  for 
him  to  do.  He  dreamed  his  destiny. v  He  chose  to 
champion  the  cause  of  the  oppressed.  He  vowed 
that  when  the  chance  came  he  would  deal  slavery  a 
hard  blow.  When  he  came  to  his  high  office,  he 
came  with  a  character  which  had  been  fitting  itself 
for  its  grave  responsibilities.  He  had  been  making- 
wise  choices  on  the  great  questions  of  human 
rights,  of  national  union,  of  constitutional  freedom, 
of  universal  brotherhood. 


FROM    "REMINISCENCES    OF   ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  "  * 

BY   ROBERT   G.    INGERSOLL 

Strange  mingling  of  mirth  and  tears,  of  the 
tragic  and  grotesque,  of  cap  and  crown,  of  Socra 
tes  and  Rabelais,  of  ^Esop  and  Marcus  Aurelius, 
of  all  that  is  gentle  and  just,  humorous  and  honest, 
merciful,  wise,  laughable,  lovable  and  divine,  and 
all  consecrated  to  the  use  of  man;  while  through 
all,  and  over  all,  an  overwhelming  sense  of  obliga 
tion,  of  chivalric  loyalty  to  truth,  and  upon  all  the 
shadow  of  the  tragic  end. 

a  By  permission  of  Mr.  C.  P.  Farrell. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  335 

Nearly  all  the  great  historic  characters  are  im 
possible  monsters,  disproportioned  by  flattery,  or  by 
calumny  deformed.  We  know  nothing  of  their 
peculiarities,  or  nothing  but  their  peculiarities. 
About  the  roots  of  these  oaks  there  clings  none  of 
the  earth  of  humanity.  Washington  is  now  only  a 
steel  engraving.  About  the  real  man  who  lived 
and  loved  and  hated  and  schemed  we  know  but 
little.  The  glass  through  which  we  look  at  him 
is  of  such  high  magnifying  power  that  the  features 
are  exceedingly  indistinct.  Hundreds  of  people 
are  now  engaged  in  smoothing  out  the  lines  of 
Lincoln's  face  —  forcing  all  features  to  the  com 
mon  mold  —  so  that  he  may  be  known,  not  as  he 
really  was,  but,  according  to  their  poor  standard, 
as  he  should  have  been. 

Lincoln  was  not  a  type.  He  stands  alone  —  no 
ancestors,  no  fellows,  and  no  successors.  He  had 
the  advantage  of  living  in  a  new  country,  of  social 
equality,  of  personal  freedom,  of  seeing  in  the 
horizon  of  his  future  the  perpetual  star  of  hope. 
He  preserved  his  individuality  and  his  self-respect. 
He  knew  and  mingled  with  men  of  every  kind ; 
and,  after  all,  men  are  the  best  books.  He  be 
came  acquainted  with  the  ambitions  and  hopes  of 
the  heart,  the  means  used  to  accomplish  ends,  the 
springs  of  action  and  the  seeds  of  thought.  He 
was  familiar  with  nature,  with  actual  things,  with 
common  facts.  He  loved  and  appreciated  the  poem 
of  the  year,  the  drama  of  the  seasons. 

In  a  new  country,  a  man  must  possess  at  least 
three  virtues  —  honesty,  courage  and  generosity. 


336  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  cultivated  society,  cultivation  is  often  more  im 
portant  than  soil.  A  well  executed  counterfeit 
passes  more  readily  than  a  blurred  genuine.  It  is 
necessary  only  to  observe  the  unwritten  laws  of 
society  —  to  be  honest  enough  to  keep  out  of 
prison,  and  generous  enough  to  subscribe  in  pub 
lic —  where  the  subscription  can  be  defended  as 
an  investment.  In  a  new  country,  character  is  es 
sential  ;  in  the  old,  reputation  is  sufficient.  In  the 
new,  they  find  what  a  man  really  is ;  in  the  old, 
he  generally  passes  for  what  he  resembles.  People 
separated  only  by  distance  are  much  nearer  to 
gether  than  those  divided  by  the  walls  of  caste. 

It  is  no  advantage  to  live  in  a  great  city,  where 
poverty  degrades  and  failure  brings  despair.  The 
fields  are  lovelier  than  paved  streets,  and  the  great 
forests  than  walls  of  brick.  Oaks  and  elms  are 
more  poetic  than  steeples  and  chimneys.  In  the 
country  is  the  idea  of  home.  There  you  see  the 
rising  and  setting  sun ;  you  become  acquainted  with 
the  stars  and  clouds.  The  constellations  are  your 
friends.  You  hear  the  rain  on  the  roof  and  listen 
to  the  rhythmic  sighing  of  the  winds.  You  are 
thrilled  by  the  resurrection  called  Spring,  touched 
and  saddened  by  Autumn,  the  grace  and  poetry  of 
death.  Every  field  is  a  picture,  a  landscape ;  every 
landscape,  a  poem ;  every  flower,  a  tender  thought  ; 
and  every  forest,  a  fairy-land.  In  the  country  you 
preserve  your  identity  —  your  personality.  There 
you  are  an  aggregation  of  atoms,  but  in  the  city  you 
are  only  an  atom  of  an  aggregation. 

Lincoln   never   finished   his   education.     To    the 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  337 

night  of  his  death  he  was  a  pupil,  a  learner,  an  in 
quirer,  a  seeker  after  knowledge.  You  have  no 
idea  how  many  men  are  spoiled  by  what  is  called 
education.  For  the  most  part,  colleges  are  places 
where  pebbles  are  polished  and  diamonds  are 
dimmed.  If  Shakespeare  had  graduated  at  Ox 
ford,  he  might  have  been  a  quibbling  attorney  or  a 
hypocritical  parson. 

Lincoln  was  a  many-sided  man,  acquainted  with 
smiles  and  tears,  complex  in  brain,  single  in  heart, 
direct  as  light;  and  his  words,  candid  as  mirrors, 
gave  the  perfect  image  of  his  thought.  He  was 
never  afraid  to  ask  —  never  too  dignified  to  admit 
that  he  did  not  know.  No  man  had  keener  wit  or 
kinder  humor.  He  was  not  solemn.  Solemnity  is 
a  mask  worn  by  ignorance  and  hypocrisy  —  it  is 
the  preface,  prologue,  and  index  to  the  cunning 
or  the  stupid.  He  was  natural  in  his  life  and 
thought  —  master  of  the  story-teller's  art,  in  illus 
tration  apt,  in  application  perfect,  liberal  in  speech, 
shocking  Pharisees  and  prudes,  using  any  word 
that  wit  could  disinfect. 

He  was  a  logician.  Logic  is  the  necessary  prod 
uct  of  intelligence  and  sincerity.  It  cannot  be 
learned.  It  is  the  child  of  a  clear  head  and  a  good 
heart.  He  was  candid,  and  with  candor  often  de 
ceived  the  deceitful.  He  had  intellect  without  ar 
rogance,  genius  without  pride,  and  religion  with 
out  cant  —  that  is  to  say,  without  bigotry  and  with 
out  deceit. 

He  was  an  orator  —  clear,  sincere,  natural.  He 
did  not  pretend.  He  did  not  say  what  he  thought 


338  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

others  thought,  but  what  he  thought.  If  you  wish 
to  be  sublime  you  must  be  natural  —  you  must  keep 
close  to  the  grass.  You  must  sit  by  the  fireside  of 
the  heart ;  above  the  clouds  it  is  too  cold.  You 
must  be  simple  in  your  speech:  too  much  polish 
suggests  insincerity.  The  great  orator  idealizes 
the  real,  transfigures  the  common,  makes  even  the 
inanimate  throb  and  thrill,  fills  the  gallery  of  the 
imagination  with  statues  and  pictures  perfect  in 
form  and  color,  brings  to  light  the  gold  hoarded 
by  memory,  the  miser  —  shows  the  glittering  coin 
to  the  spendthrift,  hope  —  enriches  the  brain,  en 
nobles  the  heart,  and  quickens  the  conscience.  Be 
tween  his  lips,  words  bud  and  blossom. 

If  you  wish  to  know  the  difference  between  an 
orator  and  an  elocutionist  —  between  what  is  felt 
and  what  is  said  —  between  what  the  heart  and 
brain  can  do  together  and  what  the  brain  can  do 
alone  —  read  Lincoln's  wondrous  words  at  Gettys 
burg,  and  then  the  speech  of  Edward  Everett.  The 
oration  of  Lincoln  will  never  be  forgotten.  It  will 
live  until  languages  are  dead  and  lips  are  dust. 
The  speech  of  Everett  will  never  be  read.  The  elo 
cutionists  believe  in  the  virtue  of  voice,  the  sub 
limity  of  syntax,  the  majesty  of  long  sentences,  and 
the  genius  of  gesture.  The  orator  loves  the  real, 
the  simple,  the  natural.  He  places  the  thought 
above  all.  He  knows  that  the  greatest  ideas  should 
be  expressed  in  the  shortest  words  —  that  the 
greatest  statues  need  the  least  drapery. 

Lincoln  was  an  immense  personality  —  firm  but 
not  obstinate.  Obstinacy  is  egotism  —  firmness, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  339 

heroism.  He  influenced  others  without  effort,  un 
consciously  ;  and  they  submitted  to  him  as  men  sub 
mit  to  nature,  unconsciously.  He  was  severe  with 
himself,  and  for  that  reason  lenient  with  others. 
He  appeared  to  apologize  for  being  kinder  than 
his  fellows.  He  did  merciful  things  as  stealthily 
as  others  committed  crimes.  Almost  ashamed  of 
tenderness,  he  said  and  did  the  noblest  words  and 
deeds  with  that  charming  confusion  —  that  awk 
wardness  —  that  is  the  perfect  grace  of  modesty. 
As  a  noble  man,  wishing  to  pay  a  small  debt  to  a 
poor  neighbor,  reluctantly  offers  a  hundred-dollar 
bill  and  asks  for  change,  fearing  that  he  may  be 
suspected  either  of  making  a  display  of  wealth  or 
a  pretense  of  payment,  so  Lincoln  hesitated  to  show 
his  wealth  of  goodness,  even  to  the  best  he  knew. 
A  great  man  stooping,  not  wishing  to  make  his 
fellows  feel  that  they  were  small  or  mean. 

He  knew  others,  because  perfectly  acquainted 
with  himself.  He  cared  nothing  for  place,  but 
everything  for  principle;  nothing  for  money,  but 
everything  for  independence.  Where  no  principle 
was  involved,  easily  swayed  —  willing  to  go  slowly, 
if  in  the  right  direction  —  sometimes  willing  to 
stop,  but  he  would  not  go  back,  and  he  would  not 
go  wrong.  He  was  willing  to  wait.  He  knew 
that  the  event  was  not  waiting,  and  that  fate  was 
not  the  fool  of  chance.  He  knew  that  slavery  had 
defenders,  but  no  defense,  and  that  they  who  attack 
the  right  must  wound  themselves.  He  was  neither 
tyrant  nor  slave.  He  neither  knelt  nor  scorned. 
With  him,  men  were  neither  great  nor  small, — 


340  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

they  were  right  or  wrong.  Through  manners, 
clothes,  titles,  rags  and  race  he  saw  the  real  —  that 
which  is.  Beyond  accident,  policy,  compromise 
and  war  he  saw  the  end.  He  was  patient  as  Des 
tiny,  whose  undecipherable  hieroglyphs  were  so 
deeply  graven  on  his  sad  and  tragic  face. 

Nothing  discloses  real  character  like  the  use  of 
power.  It  is  easy  for  the  weak  to  be  gentle.  Most 
people  can  bear  adversity.  But  if  you  wish  to 
know  what  a  man  really  is,  give  him  power.  This 
is  the  supreme  test.  It  is  the  glory  of  Lincoln  that, 
having  almost  absolute  power,  he  never  abused  it, 
except  upon  the  side  of  mercy. 

Wealth  could  not  purchase,  power  could  not  awe 
this  divine,  this  loving  man.  He  knew  no  fear  ex 
cept  the  fear  of  doing  wrong.  Hating  slavery, 
pitying  the  master  —  seeking  to  conquer,  not  per 
sons,  but  prejudices  —  he  was  the  embodiment  of 
the  self-denial,  the  courage,  the  hope,  and  the  no 
bility  of  a  nation.  He  spoke,  not  to  inflame,  not  to 
upbraid,  but  to  convince.  He  raised  his  hands,  not 
to  strike,  but  in  benediction.  He  longed  to  par 
don.  He  loved  to  see  the  pearls  of  joy  on  the 
cheeks  of  a  wife  whose  husband  he  had  rescued 
from  death. 

Lincoln  was  the  grandest  figure  of  the  fiercest 
civil  war.  He  is  the  gentlest  memory  of  our  world. 


LINCOLN  341 

LINCOLN  x 

PAUL    LAURENCE    DUNBAR 

Hurt  was  the  Nation  with  a  mighty  wound, 

And  all  her  ways  were  rilled  with  clam'rous  sound, 

Wailed  loud  the  South  with  unremitting-  grief, 

And  wept  the  North  that  could  not  find  relief. 

Then  madness  joined  its  harshest  tone  to  strife : 

A  minor  note  swelled  in  the  song  of  life 

Till,  stirring  with  the  love  that  filled  his  breast, 

But  still,  unflinching  at  the  Right's  behest 

Grave  Lincoln  came,  strong-handed,  from  afar,  — 

The  mighty  Homer  of  the  lyre  of  war ! 

'Twas  he  who  bade  the  raging  tempest  cease, 

Wrenched  from  his  strings  the  harmony  of  peace, 

Muted  the  strings  that  made  the  discord,  —  Wrong, 

And  gave  his  spirit  up  in  thund'rous  song. 

Oh,  mighty  Master  of  the  mighty  lyre ! 

Earth  heard  and  trembled  at  thy  strains  of  fire : 

Earth  learned  of  thee  what  Heav'n  already  knew, 

And  wrote  thee  down  among  her  treasured    few ! 

1  By  permission  of  Mrs.  Mathilde  Dunbar. 


342  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

THE  GRANDEST  FIGURE1 

BY    WALT    WHITMAN 

Glad  am  I  to  give  even  the  most  brief  and 
shorn  testimony  in  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Everything  I  heard  about  him  authentically,  and 
every  time  I  saw  him  (and  it  was  my  fortune 
through  1862  to  '65  to  see,  or  pass  a  word  with, 
or  watch  him,  personally,  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty 
times),  added  to  and  annealed  my  respect  and  love 
at  the  passing  moment.  And  as  I  dwell  on  what 
I  myself  heard  or  saw  of  the  mighty  Westerner, 
and  blend  it  with  the  history  and  literature  of  my 
age,  and  conclude  it  with  his  death,  it  seems  like 
some  tragic  play,  superior  to  all  else  I  know  — 
vaster  and  fierier  and  more  convulsionary,  for  this 
America  of  ours,  than  Eschylus  or  Shakespeare 
ever  drew  for  Athens  or  for  England.  And  then 
the  Moral  permeating,  underlying  all!  the  Lesson 
that  none  so  remote,  none  so  illiterate  —  no  age,  no 
class  —  but  may  directly  or  indirectly  read ! 

Abraham  Lincoln's  was  really  one  of  those  char 
acters,  the  best  of  which  is  the  result  of  long  trains 
of  cause  and  effect  —  needing  a  certain  spacious 
ness  of  time,  and  perhaps  even  remoteness,  to  prop 
erly  enclose  them  —  having  unequaled  influence  on 
the  shaping  of  this  Republic  (and  therefore  the 
world)  as  to-day,  and  then  far  more  important 
in  the  future.  Thus  the  time  has  by  no  means  yet 

1  By  permission  of  David  McKay. 


THE  GRANDEST  FIGURE  343 

come  for  a  thorough  measurement  of  him.  Never 
theless,  we  who  live  in  his  era  —  who  have  seen 
him,  and  heard  him,  face  to  face,  and  in  the  midst 
of,  or  just  parting  from,  the  strong  and  strange 
events  which  he  and  we  have  had  to  do  with,  can  in 
some  respects  bear  valuable,  perhaps  indispensable 
testimony  concerning  him. 

How  does  this  man  compare  with  the  acknowl 
edged  "  Father  of  his  country  ?  "  Washington  was 
modeled  on  the  best  Saxon  and  Franklin  of  the  age 
of  the  Stuarts  (rooted  in  the  Elizabethan  period) 
—  was  essentially  a  noble  Englishman,  and  just  the 
kind  needed  for  the  occasions  and  the  times  of 
i776-'83.  Lincoln,  underneath  his  practicality, 
was  far  less  European,  far  more  Western,  original, 
essentially  non-conventional,  and  had  a  certain  sort 
of  out-door  or  prairie  stamp.  One  of  the  best  of 
the  late  commentators  on  Shakespeare  (Professor 
Dowden),  makes  the  height  and  aggregate  of  his 
quality  as  a  poet  to  be,  that  he  thoroughly  blended 
the  ideal  with  the  practical  or  realistic.  If  this  be 
so,  I  should  say  that  what  Shakespeare  did  in 
poetic  expression,  Abraham  Lincoln  essentially  did 
in  his  personal  and  official  life.  I  should  say  the 
invisible  foundations  and  vertebrae  of  his  character, 
more  than  any  man's  in  history,  were  mystical,  ab 
stract,  moral  and  spiritual  —  while  upon  all  of 
them  was  built,  and  out  of  all  of  them  radiated, 
under  the  control  of  the  average  of  circumstances, 
what  the  vulgar  call  horse-sense,  and  a  life  often 
bent  by  temporary  but  most  urgent  materialistic 
and  political  reasons. 


344  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  indomitable 
firmness  (even  obstinacy)  on  rare  occasions,  in 
volving  great  points;  but  he  was  generally  very 
easy,  flexible,  tolerant,  respecting  minor  matters. 
I  note  that  even  those  reports  and  anecdotes  in 
tended  to  level  him  down,  all  leave  the  tinge  of  a 
favorable  impression  of  him.  As  to  his  religious 
nature,  it  seems  to  me  to  have  certainly  been  of  the 
amplest,  deepest-rooted  kind. 

Dear  to  Democracy,  to  the  very  last!  And 
among  the  paradoxes  generated  by  America  not 
the  least  curious,  was  that  spectacle  of  all  the  kings 
and  queens  and  emperors  of  the  earth,  many  from 
remote  distances,  sending  tributes  of  condolence 
and  sorrow  in  memory  of  one  raised  through  the 
commonest  average  of  life  —  a  rail-splitter  and  flat- 
boatman  ! 

Considered  from  contemporary  points  of  view  — 
who  knows  what  the  future  may  decide?  —  and 
from  the  points  of  view  of  current  Democracy  and 
The  Union  (the  only  thing  like  passion  or  infatua 
tion  in  the  man  was  the  passion  for  the  Union  of 
these  States),  Abraham  Lincoln  seems  to  me  the 
grandest  figure  yet,  on  all  the  crowded  canvas  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  345 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

BY  LYMAN  ABBOTT 

To  comprehend  the  current  of  history  sympa 
thetically,  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
prophetically,  to  know  what  God,  by  His  provi 
dence,  is  working  out  in  the  epoch  and  the  com 
munity,  and  so  to  work  with  him  as  to  guide  the 
current  and  embody  in  noble  deeds  the  spirit  of 
the  age  in  working  out  the  divine  problem,  —  this 
is  true  greatness.  The  man  who  sets  his  powers, 
however  gigantic,  to  stemming  the  current  and 
thwarting  the  divine  purposes,  is  not  truly  great. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  made  the  Chief  Executive 
of  a  nation  whose  Constitution  was  unlike  that  of 
any  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  We  as 
sume  that,  ordinarily,  public  sentiment  will  change 
so  gradually  that  the  nation  can  always  secure  a 
true  representative  of  its  purpose  in  the  presiden 
tial  chair  by  an  election  every  four  years.  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  the  presidential  office  at  a  time  when 
public  sentiment  was  revolutionized  in  less  than 
four  years.  ...  It  was  the  peculiar  genius  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  that  he  was  able,  by  his  sympa 
thetic  insight,  to  perceive  the  change  in  public  senti 
ment  without  waiting  for  it  to  be  formulated  in  any 
legislative  action ;  to  keep  pace  with  it,  to  lead  and 
direct  it,  to  quicken  laggard  spirits,  to  hold  in  the 
too  ardent,  too  impetuous,  and  too  hasty  ones,  and 
thus,  when  he  signed  the  emancipation  proclama- 


346  (LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

tion,  to  make  his  signature,  not  the  act  of  an  indi 
vidual  man,  the  edict  of  a  military  imperator,  but 
the  representative  act  of  a  great  nation.  He  was 
the  greatest  President  in  American  History,  because 
in  a  time  of  revolution  he  grasped  the  purposes  of 
the  American  people  and  embodied  them  in  an  act 
of  justice  and  humanity  which  was  in  the  highest 
sense  the  act  of  the  American  Republic. 


LINCOLN  THE  IMMORTAL 

*  ADDRESS    FOR    LINCOLN'S    BIRTHDAY  ' 
ANONYMOUS 

From  Caesar  to  Bismarck  and  Gladstone  the 
world  has  had  its  soldiers  and  its  statesmen,  who 
rose  to  eminence  and  power  step  by  step  through 
a  series  of  geometrical  progression,  as  it  were,  each 
promotion  following  in  regular  order,  the  whole 
obedient  to  well-established  and  well-understood 
laws  of  cause  and  effect.  These  were  not  what  we 
call  "  men  of  destiny."  They  were  men  of  the 
time.  They  were  men  whose  career  had  a  begin 
ning,  a  middle  and  an  end,  rounding  off  a  life  with 
a  history,  full,  it  may  be,  of  interesting  and  ex 
citing  events,  but  comprehensible  and  comprehen 
sive,  simple,  clear,  complete. 

The  inspired  men  are  fewer.  Whence  their 
emanation,  where  and  how  they  got  their  power, 
and  by  what  rule  they  lived,  moved  and  had  their 
being,  we  cannot  see.  There  is  no  explication  to 


LINCOLN  THE  IMMORTAL          347 

these  lives.  They  rose  from  shadow  and  went  in 
mist.  We  see  them,  feel  them,  but  we  know  them 
not.  They  arrived,  God's  word  upon  their  lips ; 
they  did  their  office,  God's  mantle  upon  them ;  and 
they  passed  away  God's  holy  light  between  the 
world  and  them,  leaving  behind  a  memory  half 
mortal  and  half  myth.  From  first  to  last  they  were 
distinctly  the  creations  of  some  special  providence, 
baffling  the  wit  of  man  to  fathom,  defeating  the 
machinations  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil 
until  their  work  was  done,  and  passed  from  the 
scene  as  mysteriously  as  they  had  come  upon  it ; 
Luther,  to  wit;  Shakespeare,  Burns,  even  Bona 
parte,  the  archangel  of  war,  havoc  and  ruin ;  not 
to  go  back  into  the  dark  ages  for  examples  of  the 
hand  of  God  stretched  out  to  raise  us,  to  protect 
and  to  cast  down. 

Tried  by  this  standard  and  observed  in  an  his 
toric  spirit,  where  shall  we  find  an  illustration  more 
impressive  than  in  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose  life, 
career  and  death  might  be  chanted  by  a  Greek 
chorus  as  at  once  the  prelude  and  the  epilogue  of 
the  most  imperial  theme  of  modern  times. 

Born  as  low  as  the  Son  of  God  in  a  hovel,  of 
what  real  parentage  we  know  not ;  reared  in  penury, 
squalor,  with  no  gleam  of  light,  nor  fair  sur 
roundings;  a  young  manhood  vexed  by  weird 
dreams  and  visions,  bordering  at  times  on  mad 
ness  ;  singularly  awkward,  ungainly,  even  among 
the  uncouth  about  him ;  grotesque  in  his  aspects 
and  ways,  it  was  reserved  for  this  strange  being, 
late  in  life,  without  name  or  fame  or  ordinary 


348  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAYS 

preparation,  to  be  snatched  from  obscurity,  raised 
to  supreme  command,  and  entrusted  with  the  des 
tiny  of  a  nation. 

The  great  leaders  of  his  party  were  made  to 
stand  aside ;  the  most  experienced  and  accomplished 
men  of  the  day,  men  like  Seward  and  Chase  and 
Sumner,  statesmen  famous  and  trained,  were  sent 
to  the  rear;  while  this  comparatively  unknown 
and  fantastic  figure  was  brought  by  unseen  hands 
to  the  front  and  given  the  reins  of  power.  It  is 
entirely  immaterial  whether  we  believe  in  what 
he  said  or  did,  whether  we  are  for  him  or  against 
him;  but  for  us  to  admit  that  during  four  years, 
carrying  with  them  such  a  pressure  of  respons 
ibility  as  the  world  has  never  witnessed  before,  he 
filled  the  measure  of  the  vast  space  allotted  him 
in  the  actions  of  mankind  and  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  is  to  say  that  he  was  inspired  of  God,  for 
nowhere  else  could  he  have  acquired  the  enormous 
equipment  indispensable  to  the  situation. 

Where  did  Shakespeare  get  his  genius?  Where 
did  Mozart  get  his  music?  Whose  hand  smote 
the  lyre  of  the  Scottish  plowman?  and  stayed  the 
life  of  the  German  priest  ?  God  alone ;  and,  so 
surely  as  these  were  raised  up  by  God,  inspired 
by  God  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  and,  a  thousand 
years  hence,  no  story,  no  tragedy,  no  epic  poem 
will  be  filled  with  greater  wonder  than  that  which 
tells  of  his  life  and  death.  If  Lincoln  was  not  in 
spired  of  God,  then  were  not  Luther,  or  Shakes 
peare,  or  Burns.  If  Lincoln  was  not  inspired  by 
God,  then  there  is  no  such  thing  on  earth  as  special 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  HERO        349 

providence  or  the  interposition  of  divine  power  in 
the  affairs  of  men. 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  HERO 

BY    FREDERIC    HARRISON 

The  great  struggle  which  has  for  ever  decided 
the  cause  of  slavery  of  man  to  man,  is,  beyond 
all  question,  the  most  critical  which  the  world 
has  seen  since  the  great  revolutionary  outburst. 
If  ever  there  was  a  question  which  was  to  test 
political  capacity  and  honesty  it  was  this.  A  true 
statesman,  here  if  ever,  was  bound  to  forecast 
truly  the  issue,  and  to  judge  faithfully  that 
cause  at  stake.  We  know  now,  it  is  beyond  dis 
pute,  that  the  cause  which  won  was  certain  to  win 
in  the  end,  that  its  reserve  force  was  absolutely 
without  limit,  that  its  triumph  was  one  of  the  turn 
ing-points  in  modern  civilization.  It  was  morally 
certain  to  succeed,  and  it  did  succeed  with  an 
overwhelming  and  mighty  success.  From  first  to 
last  both  might  and  right  went  all  one  way.  The 
people  of  England  went  wholly  that  way.  The  of 
ficial  classes  went  wholly  some  other  way. 

One  of  the  great  key-notes  of  England's  fu 
ture  is  simply  this  —  what  will  be  her  relations  with 
that  great  republic?  If  the  two  branches  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  are  to  form  two  phases  of  one 
political  movement,  their  welfare  and  that  of  the 
world  will  be  signally  promoted.  If  their  courses 


350  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

are  marred  by  jealousies  or  contests,  both  will  be 
fatally  retarded.  Real  confidence  and  sympathy 
extended  to  that  people  in  the  hour  of  their  trial 
would  have  forged  an  eternal  bond  between  us. 
To  discredit  and  distrust  them,  then,  was  to  sow 
deep  the  seeds  of  antipathy.  Yet,  although  a  union 
in  feeling  was  of  importance  so  great,  although  so 
little  would  have  secured  it,  the  governing  classes 
of  England  wantonly  did  all  they  could  to  foment 
a  breach. 

A  great  political  judgment  fell  upon  a  race  of 
men,  our  own  brothers ;  the  inveterate  social  malady 
they  inherited  came  to  a  crisis.  We  watched  it 
gather  with  exultation  and  insult.  There  fell  on 
them  the  most  terrible  necessity  which  can  befall 
men,  the  necessity  of  sacrificing  the  flower  of  their 
citizens  in  civil  war,  of  tearing  up  their  civil  and 
social  system  by  the  roots,  of  transforming  the  most 
peaceful  type  of  society  into  the  most  military. 
We  magnified  and  shouted  over  every  disaster; 
we  covered  them  with  insult;  we  filled  the  world 
with  ominous  forebodings  and  unjust  accusations. 
There  came  on  them  one  awful  hour  when  the 
powers  of  evil  seemed  almost  too  strong;  when 
any  but  a  most  heroic  race  would  have  sunk  under 
the  blows  of  their  traitorous  kindred.  We  chose 
that  moment  to  give  actual  succour  to  their  enemy, 
and  stabbed  them  in  the  back  with  a  wound  which 
stung  their  pride  even  more  than  it  crippled  their 
strength.  They  displayed  the  most  splendid  ex 
amples  of  energy  and  fortitude  which  the  modern 
world  has  seen,  with  which  the  defence  of  Greece 


LINCOLN  351 

against  Asia,  and  of  France  against  Europe,  alone 
can  be  compared  in  the  whole  annals  of  mankind. 
They  developed  almost  ideal  civic  virtues  and  gifts ; 
generosity,  faith,  firmness ;  sympathy  the  most  af 
fecting,  resources  the  most  exhaustless,  ingenuity 
the  most  magical.  They  brought  forth  the  most 
beautiful  and  heroic  character  who  in  recent  times 
has  ever  led  a  nation,  the  only  blameless  type  of 
the  statesman  since  the  days  of  Washington.  Un 
der  him  they  created  the  purest  model  of  govern 
ment  which  has  yet  been  seen  on  the  earth  —  a 
whole  nation  throbbing  into  one  great  heart  and 
brain,  one  great  heart  and  brain  giving  unity  and 
life  to  a  whole  nation.  The  hour  of  their  success 
came;  unchequered  in  the  completeness  of  its 
triumph,  unsullied  by  any  act  of  vengeance,  hal 
lowed  by  a  great  martyrdom. 


LINCOLN  1 

BY    JOHN    VANCE    CHENEY 

The  hour  was  on  us ;  where  the  man  ? 
The  fateful   sands  unfaltering  ran, 

And  up  the  way  of  tears 

He  came  into  the  years, 

Our  pastoral  captain.     Forth  he  came, 
As  one  that  answers  to  his  name ; 
Nor  dreamed  how  high  his  charge, 
His  work  how  fair  and  large, — 

1  By  permission  of  (  The  Interior,'  Chicago. 


352  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

To  set  the  stones  back  in  the  wall 

Lest  the  divided  house  should  fall, 

And  peace  from  men  depart, 

Hope  and  the  childlike  heart. 

We  looked  on  him ;  "  'Tis  he/'  we  said, 
"  Come  crownless  and  unheralded, 
The  shepherd  who  will  keep 
The  flocks,  will  fold  the  sheep." 

Unknightly,  yes;  yet  'twas  the  mien 
Presaging  the  immortal  scene, 

Some  battle  of  His  wars 

Who  sealeth  up  the  stars. 

Not  he  would  take  the  past  between 
His  hands,   wipe  valor's   tablets   clean, 

Commanding  greatness  wait 

Till  he  stand  at  the  gate; 

Not  he  would  cramp  to  one  small  head 
The  awful  laurels  of  the  dead, 

Time's  mighty  vintage  cup, 

And  drink  all  honor  up. 

No  flutter  of  the  banners  bold, 
Borne  by  the  lusty  sons  of  old, 
The  haughty  conquerors 
Sent  forward  to  their  wars; 

Not  his  their  blare,  their  pageantries, 
Their  goal,  their  glory,  was  not  his; 
Humbly  he  came  to  keep 
The  flocks,  to  fold  the  sheep. 


HIS  INDIVIDUALITY  353 

The  need  comes  not  without  the  man ; 
The  prescient  hours  unceasing  ran, 

And  up  the  way  of  tears 

He  came  into  the  years, 

Our  pastoral  captain,  skilled  to  crook 
The  spear  into  the  pruning  hook, 

The  simple,  kindly  man, 

Lincoln,  American. 


MAJESTIC  IN   HIS   INDIVIDUALITY 

BY    J.    P.    NEWMAN 

Human  glory  is  often  fickle  as  the  winds,  and 
transient  as  a  summer  day,  but  Abraham  Lincoln's 
place  in  history  is  assured.  All  the  symbols  of 
this  world's  admiration  are  his.  He  is  embalmed 
in  song ;  recorded  in  history ;  eulogized  in  pane 
gyric  ;  cast  in  bronze ;  sculptured  in  marble ;  painted 
on  canvas ;  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  his  country 
men,  and  lives  in  the  memories  of  mankind. 
Some  men  are  brilliant  in  their  times,  but  their 
words  and  deeds  are  of  little  worth  to  history ;  but 
his  mission  was  as  large  as  his  country,  vast  as 
humanity,  enduring  as  time.  No  greater  thought 
can  ever  enter  the  human  mind  than  obedience  to 
law  and  freedom  for  all.  Some  men  are  not  hon 
ored  by  their  contemporaries,  and  die  neglected. 
Here  is  one  more  honored  than  any  other  man  while 
living,  more  revered  when  dying,  and  destined  to 


354  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

be  loved  to  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time.  He 
has  this  three-fold  greatness, —  great  in  life,  great 
in  death,  great  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Lin 
coln  will  grow  upon  the  attention  and  affections  of 
posterity,  because  he  saved  the  life  of  the  great 
est  nation,  whose  ever-widening  influence  is  to  bless 
humanity.  Measured  by  this  standard,  Lincoln 
shall  live  in  history  from  age  to  age. 

Great  men  appear  in  groups,  and  in  groups  they 
disappear  from  the  vision  of  the  world;  but  we  do 
not  love  or  hate  men  in  groups.  We  speak  of 
Gutenberg  and  his  coadjutors,  of  Washington  and 
his  generals,  of  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet :  but  when 
the  day  of  judgment  comes,  we  crown  the  inventor 
of  printing;  we  place  the  laurel  on  the  brow  of 
the  father  of  his  country,  and  the  chaplet  of  re 
nown  upon  the  head  of  the  saviour  of  the  Republic. 

Some  men  are  great  from  the  littleness  of  their 
surroundings ;  but  he  only  is  great  who  is  great 
amid  greatness.  Lincoln  had  great  associates, — 
Seward,  the  sagacious  diplomatist;  Chase,  the  em 
inent  financier;  Stanton,  the  incomparable  Secre 
tary  of  War ;  with  illustrious  Senators  and  soldiers. 
Neither  could  take  his  part  nor  fill  his  position. 
And  the  same  law  of  the  coming  and  going  of 
great  men  is  true  of  our  own  day.  In  piping  times 
of  peace,  genius  is  not  aflame,  and  true  greatness 
is  not  apparent;  but  when  the  crisis  comes,  then 
God  lifts  the  curtain  from  obscurity,  and  reveals 
the  man  for  the  hour. 

Lincoln  stands  forth  on  the  page  of  history, 
unique  in  his  character,  and  majestic  in  his  in- 


HIS  INDIVIDUALITY  355 

dividuality.  Like  Milton's  angel,  he  was  an  orig 
inal  conception.  He  was  raised  up  for  his  times. 
He  was  a  leader  of  leaders.  By  instinct  the  com 
mon  heart  trusted  in  him.  He  was  of  the  people 
and  for  the  people.  He  had  been  poor  and  labor 
ious  ;  but  greatness  did  not  change  the  tone  of  his 
spirit,  or  lessen  the  sympathies  of  his  nature.  His 
character  was  strangely  symmetrical.  He  was 
temperate,  without  austerity ;  brave,  without  rash 
ness  ;  constant,  without  obstinacy.  His  love  of 
justice  was  only  equalled  by  his  delight  in  com 
passion.  His  regard  for  personal  honor  was  only 
excelled  by  love  of  country.  His  self-abnegation 
found  its  highest  expression  in  the  public  good. 
His  integrity  was  never  questioned.  His  honesty 
was  above  suspicion.  He  was  more  solid  than 
brilliant;  his  judgment  dominated  his  imagination; 
his  ambition  was  subject  to  his  modesty,  and  his  love 
of  justice  held  the  mastery  over  all  personal  con 
siderations.  Not  excepting  Washington,  who  in 
herited  wealth  and  high  social  position,  Lincoln 
is  the  fullest  representative  American  in  our  na 
tional  annals.  He  had  touched  every  round  in  the 
human  ladder.  He  illustrated  the  possibilities  of 
our  citizenship.  We  are  not  ashamed  of  his  humble 
origin.  We  are  proud  of  his  greatness. 


IX 
LINCOLN'S  YARNS  AND  SAYINGS 


THE  QUESTION  OF  LEGS 

Whenever  the  people  of  Lincoln's  neighborhood 
engaged  in  dispute;  whenever  a  bet  was  to  be  de 
cided;  when  they  differed  on  points  of  religion  or 
politics ;  when  they  wanted  to  get  out  of  trouble, 
or  desired  advice  regarding  anything  on  the  earth, 
below  it,  above  it,  or  under  the  sea,  they  went  to 
"  Abe." 

Two  fellows,  after  a  hot  dispute  lasting  some 
hours,  over  the  problem  as  to  how  long  a  man's 
legs  should  be  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  his  body, 
stamped  into  Lincoln's  office  one  day  and  put  the 
question  to  him. 

Lincoln  listened  gravely  to  the  arguments  ad 
vanced  by  both  contestants,  spent  some  time  in 
"  reflecting "  upon  the  matter,  and  then,  turning 
around  in  his  chair  and  facing  the  disputants,  de 
livered  his  opinion  with  all  the  gravity  of  a  judge 
sentencing  a  fellow-being  to  death. 

"  This  question  has  been  a  source  of  contro 
versy,"  he  said,  slowly  and  deliberately,  "  for  un 
told  ages,  and  it  is  about  time  it  should  be  definitely 
decided.  It  has  led  to  bloodshed  in  the  past,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  it  will  not  lead  to  the 
same  in  the  future. 

"  After  much  thought  and  consideration,  not  to 
mention  mental  worry  and  anxiety,  it  is  my 
359 


360  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

opinion,  all  side  issues  being  swept  aside,  that  a 
man's  lower  limbs,  in  order  to  preserve  harmony 
of  proportion,  should  be  at  least  long  enough  to 
reach  from  his  body  to  the  ground." 


A  FAMOUS  STORY  —  HOW  LINCOLN  WAS 
PRESENTED  WITH  A  KNIFE ! 

"  In  the  days  when  I  used  to  be  '  on  the  circuit,'  " 
said  Lincoln,  "  I  was  accosted  in  the  cars  by  a 
stranger,  who  said : 

'  Excuse  me,  sir,  but  I  have  an  article  in  my 
possession  which  belongs  to  you.' 

"  '  How  is  that  ?  '  I  asked,  considerably  aston 
ished. 

"  The  stranger  took  a  jack-knife  from  his  pocket. 
'  This  knife/  said  he,  '  was  placed  in  my  hands 
some  years  ago,  with  the  injunction  that  I  was  to 
keep  it  until  I  found  a  man  uglier  than  myself.  I 
have  carried  it  from  that  time  to  this.  Allow  me 
now  to  say,  sir,  that  I  think  you  are  fairly  entitled 
to  the  property/  " 


"FOOLING"  THE  PEOPLE 

Lincoln  was  a  strong  believer  in  the  virtue  of 
dealing  honestly  with  the  people. 

"  If  you  once  forfeit  the  confidence  of  your  fel- 


YARNS  AND  STORIES  361 

low-citizens,"  he  said  to  a  caller  at  the  White 
House,  "you  can  never  regain  their  respect  and 
esteem. 

"  It  is  true  that  you  may  fool  all  the  people  some 
of  the  time;  you  can  even  fool  some  of  the  people 
all  the  time ;  but  you  can't  fool  all  of  the  people  all 
the  time." 


LINCOLN'S  NAME  FOR  "WEEPING 
WATER  " 

"  I  was  speaking  one  time  to  Mr.  Lincoln,"  said 
Governor  Saunders,  of  Nebraska,  "  of  a  little  Ne- 
braskan  settlement  on  the  Weeping  Waters,  a 
stream  in  our  State." 

"  '  Weeping  Water ! '  "  said  he. 

"  Then  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  he  continued. 

"  '  I  suppose  the  Indians  out  there  call  it  Minne- 
boohoo,  don't  they?  They  ought  to,  if  Laughing 
Water  is  Minnehaha  in  their  language.' " 


LINCOLN'S  CONFAB  WITH  A  COMMITTEE 
ON  GRANT'S  WHISKY  " 

Just  previous  to  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  a  self- 
constituted  committee,  solicitous  for  the  morale  of 
our  armies,  took  it  upon  themselves  to  visit  the 
President  and  urge  the  removal  of  General  Grant. 


362  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

In  some  surprise  Mr.  Lincoln  inquired,  "  For 
what  reason  ?  " 

"  Why,"  replied  the  spokesman,  "  he  drinks  too 
much  whisky." 

"Ah!  "  rejoined  Mr.  Lincoln,  dropping  his  lower 
lip.  "  By  the  way,  gentlemen,  can  either  of  you 
tell  me  where  General  Grant  procures  his  whisky? 
because,  if  I  can  find  out,  I  will  send  every  general 
in  the  field  a  barrel  of  it !  " 


MILD  REBUKE  TO  A  DOCTOR 

Dr.  Jerome  Walker,  of  Brooklyn,  told  how  Mr. 
Lincoln  once  administered  to  him  a  mild  rebuke. 
The  doctor  was  showing  Mr.  Lincoln  through  the 
hospital  at  City  Point. 

"  Finally,  after  visiting  the  wards  occupied  by 
our  invalid  and  convalescing  soldiers,"  said  Dr. 
Walker,  "  we  came  to  three  wards  occupied  by 
sick  and  wounded  Southern  prisoners.  With  a 
feeling  of  patriotic  duty,  I  said :  '  Mr.  President, 
you  won't  want  to  go  in  there ;  they  are  only  rebels/ 

"  I  will  never  forget  how  he  stopped  and  gently 
laid  his  large  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  quietly 
answered,  '  You  mean  Confederates ! '  And  I 
have  meant  Confederates  ever  since. 

"  There  was  nothing  left  for  me  to  do  after  the 
President's  remark  but  to  go  with  him  through 
these  three. wards;  and  I  could  not  see  but  that  he 
was  just  as  kind,  his  hand-shakings  just  as  hearty, 
his  interest  just  as  real  for  the  welfare  of  the  men, 
as  when  he  was  among  our  own  soldiers." 


X 


FROM    LINCOLN'S    SPEECHES    AND 
WRITINGS 


LINCOLN'S  LIFE  AS  WRITTEN  BY 
HIMSELF 

The  compiler  of  the  "  Dictionary  of  Congress " 
states  that  while  preparing  that  work  for  publication 
in  1858,  he  sent  to  Mr.  Lincoln  the  usual  request  for 
a  sketch  of  his  life,  and  received  the  following  reply: 

"  Born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  Co.,  Ken 
tucky. 

Education  Defective.  Profession  a  Lawyer. 
Have  been  a  Captain  of  Volunteers  in  Black  Hawk 
War.  Postmaster  at  a  very  small  office.  Four 
times  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Lower  House  of  Congress. 
Yours,  etc. 

A.  Lincoln." 


THE  INJUSTICE  OF  SLAVERY 
(Speech  at  Peoria,  III.,  October  16,  1854) 

This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must  think, 
covert  zeal,  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  cannot  but 
hate.    I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice 
365 


366  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

of  slavery  itself;  I  hate  it  because  it  deprives  our 
republic  of  an  example  of  its  just  influence  in  the 
world ;  enables  the  enemies  of  free  institutions  with 
plausibility  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites;  causes  the 
real  friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our  sincerity ;  and, 
especially,  because  it  forces  so  many  really  good 
men  among  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with  the 
very  fundamental  principles  of  civil  liberty,  crit 
icising  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  in 
sisting  that  there  is  no  right  principle  of  action  but 
self-interest. 

The  doctrine  of  self-government  is  right, — 
absolutely  and  eternally  right, —  but  it  has  no  just 
application,  as  here  attempted.  Or,  perhaps,  I 
should  rather  say,  that  whether  it  has  such  just 
application  depends  upon  whether  a  negro  is  not, 
or  is,  a  man.  If  he  is  not  a  man,  in  that  case  he 
who  is  a  man  may,  as  a  matter  of  self-government, 
do  just  what  he  pleases  with  him.  But  if  the 
negro  is  a  man,  is  it  not  to  that  extent  a  total  de 
struction  of  self-government  to  say  that  he,  too, 
shall  not  govern  himself? 

When  the  white  man  governs  himself  that 
is  self-government;  but  when  he  governs  himself, 
and  also  governs  another  man,  that  is  more  than 
self-government  —  that  is  despotism. 

What  I  do  say  is,  that  no  man  is  good  enough 
to  govern  another  man  without  that  other's  consent. 

The  master  not  only  governs  the  slave  without 
his  consent,  but  he  governs  him  by  a  set  of  rules 
altogether  different  from  those  which  he  prescribes 


INJUSTICE  OF  SLAVERY  367 

for  himself.  Allow  all  the  governed  an  equal  voice 
in  the  government;  that,  and  that  only,  is  self- 
government. 

Slavery  is  founded  in  the  selfishness  of  man's 
nature  —  opposition  to  it,  in  his  love  of  justice. 
These  principles  are  an  eternal  antagonism;  and 
when  brought  into  collision  so  fiercely  as  slavery 
extension  brings  them,  shocks  and  throes  and  con 
vulsions  must  ceaselessly  follow. 

Repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise  —  repeal  all 
compromise  —  and  repeal  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence —  repeal  all  past  history  —  still  you 
cannot  repeal  human  nature. 

I  particularly  object  to  the  new  position  which 
the  avowed  principles  of  the  Nebraska  law  gives 
to  slavery  in  the  body  politic.  I  object  to  it,  be 
cause  it  assumes  that  there  can  be  moral  right  in 
the  enslaving  of  one  man  by  another.  I  object  to 
it  as  a  dangerous  dalliance  for  a  free  people, — a  sad 
evidence  that  feeling  prosperity,  we  forget  right, — 
that  liberty  as  a  principle  we  have  ceased  to  revere. 

Little  by  little,  but  steadily  as  man's  march  to 
the  grave,  we  have  been  giving  up  the  old  for  the 
new  faith.  Near  eighty  years  ago  we  began  by 
declaring  that  all  men  are  created  equal;  but  now 
from  that  beginning  we  have  run  down  to  the 
other  declaration  that  for  some  men  to  enslave 
others  is  a  '  sacred  right  of  self-government/ 
These  principles  cannot  stand  together.  They  are 
as  opposite  as  God  and  Mammon. 

Our  republican  robe  is  soiled  and  trailed  in  the 


368  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

dust.  Let  us  purify  it.  Let  us  turn  and  wash  it 
white,  in  the  spirit,  if  not  in  the  blood,  of  the 
Revolution. 

Let  us  turn  slavery  from  its  claims  of  '  moral 
right '  back  upon  its  existing  legal  rights,  and  its 
arguments  of  '  necessity/  Let  us  return  it  to  the 
position  our  fathers  gave  it,  and  there  let  it  rest 
in  peace. 

Let  us  re-adopt  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  the  practices  and  policy  which  harmonize  with 
it.  Let  North  and  South  —  let  all  Americans  —  let 
all  lovers  of  liberty  everywhere,  join  in  the  great 
and  good  work. 

If  we  do  this,  we  shall  not  only  have  saved 
the  Union,  but  shall  have  so  saved  it,  as  to  make 
and  to  keep  it  forever  worthy  of  saving.  We  shall 
have  so  saved  it  that  the  succeeding  millions  of  free, 
happy  people,  the  world  over,  shall  rise  up  and  call 
us  blessed  to  the  latest  generations. 


SPEECH  AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE, 
FEBRUARY  27,  1860 

I  defy  anyone  to  show  that  any  living  man  in 
the  whole  world  ever  did,  prior  to  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century  (and  I  might  almost  say 
prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the  pres 
ent  century),  declare  that,  in  his  understanding, 
any  proper  division  of  local  from  Federal  author 
ity,  or  any  part  of  the  Constitution,  forbade  the 


COOPER  INSTITUTE  SPEECH        369 

Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  the 
Federal  Territories. 

To  those  who  now  so  declare,  I  give,  not  only 
'  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under 
which  we  live/  but  with  them  all  other  living  men 
within  the  century  in  which  it  was  framed,  among 
whom  to  search,  and  they  shall  not  be  able  to  find 
the  evidence  of  a  single  man  agreeing  with  them. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  we  are  bound  to  follow 
implicitly  in  whatever  our  fathers  did.  To  do  so 
would  be  to  discard  all  the  lights  of  current  ex 
perience,  to  reject  all  progress,  all  improvement. 
What  I  do  say  is,  that  if  we  would  supplant  the 
opinions  and  policy  of  our  fathers  in  any  case,  we 
should  do  so  upon  evidence  so  conclusive,  and  argu 
ment  so  clear,  that  even  their  authority,  fairly  con 
sidered  and  weighed,  cannot  stand ;  and  most  surely 
not  in  a  case  whereof  we  ourselves  declare  they  un 
derstood  the  question  better  than  we. 

Let  all  who  believe  that  '  our  fathers,  who 
framed  the  government  under  which  we  live,'  un 
derstood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better, 
than  we  do  now,  speak  as  they  spoke,  and  act  as 
they  acted  upon  it. 

It  is  exceedingly  desirable  that  all  parts  of  this 
great  confederacy  shall  be  at  peace,  and  in  har 
mony,  one  with  another.  Let  us  Republicans  do 
our  part  to  have  it  so.  Even  though  much  pro 
voked,  let  us  do  nothing  through  passion  and  ill- 
temper. 

Even  though  the  Southern  people  will  not  so 
much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their 


370  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

demands,  and  yield  to  them  if,  in  our  deliberate 
view  of  our  duty,  we  possibly  can.  Judging  by  all 
they  say  and  do,  and  by  the  subject  and  nature  of 
their  controversy  with  us,  let  us  determine,  if  we 
can,  what  will  satisfy  them. 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  af 
ford  to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much 
is  due  to  the  necessity  arising  from  its  actual  pres 
ence  in  the  nation.  But  can  we,  while  our  votes 
will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national 
Territories,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  these  free 
States? 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us 
stand  by  our  duty,  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let 
us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical  con 
trivances  wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied 
and  belabored  —  contrivances  such  as  groping  for 
some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  wrong, 
vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be  neither 
a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man;  such  as  a  policy  of 
*  don't  care '  on  a  question  about  which  all  true 
men  do  care;  such  as  Union  appeals  beseeching 
true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunionists,  reversing 
the  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but 
the  righteous  to  repentance;  such  as  invocations  to 
Washington  imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Wash 
ington  said,  and  undo  what  Washington  did. 

Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and 
in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our 
duty,  as  we  understand  it. 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS       371 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 
MARCH  4,  1861 

Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people 
of  the  Southern  States,  that  by  the  occasion  of  a 
Republican  administration,  their  property  and  their 
peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be  endangered. 
There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such 
apprehension.  Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence 
to  the  contrary  has  all  the  while  existed,  and  been 
open  to  their  inspection.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all 
the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses 
you. 

I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those  speeches, 
when  I  declared  that  "  I  have  no  purpose,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of 
slavery,  in  the  States  where  it  exists." 

I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and 
I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so.  Those  who 
nominated  and  elected  me  did  so  with  the  full 
knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and  many  similar 
declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.  I  now 
reiterate  these,  sentiments,  and  in  doing  so,  I  only 
press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the 
property,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be 
in  any  wise  endangered  by  the  now  incoming  ad 
ministration. 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental 
reservations,  and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the 


372  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

Constitution  or  laws  by  any  hypercritical  rules; 
and,  while  I  do  not  choose  now  to  specify  particular 
acts  of  Congress  as  proper  to  be  enforced,  I  do 
suggest  that  it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in 
official  and  private  stations,  to  conform  to  and 
abide  by  all  those  acts  which  stand  unrepealed,  than 
to  violate  any  of  them,  trusting  to  find  impunity  in 
having  them  held  to  be  unconstitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inaugura 
tion  of  a  president  under  our  national  constitution. 
During  that  period,  fifteen  different  and  very  dis 
tinguished  citizens  have  in  succession  administered 
the  executive  branch  of  the  government.  They 
have  conducted  it  through  many  perils,  and  gen 
erally  with  great  success.  Yet,  with  this  scope  for 
precedent,  I  now  enter  upon  the  same  task,  for  the 
brief  constitutional  term  of  four  years,  under  great 
and  peculiar  difficulties. 

I  hold,  that  in  the  contemplation  of  universal 
law  and  the  Constitution,  the  union  of  these  States 
is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  ex 
pressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national 
governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  govern 
ment  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law 
for  its  own  termination.  Continue  to  execute  all 
the  express  provisions  of  our  national  Constitution, 
and  the  Union  will  endure  forever. 

To  those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union 
may  I  not  speak  ?  Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a 
matter  as  the  destruction  of  our  national  fabric, 
with  all  its  benefits,  its  memories,  and  its  hopes, 
would  it  not  be  well  to  ascertain  why  we  do  it? 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS       373 

Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step  while  any  por 
tion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from  have  no  real  exist 
ence?  Will  you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly  to 
are  greater  than  all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from? 
Will  you  risk  the  commission  of  so  fearful  a  mis 
take? 

All  profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union  if  all 
constitutional  rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it  true, 
then,  that  any  right  plainly  written  in  the  Con 
stitution  has  been  denied?  I  think  not.  Happily, 
the  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  no  party 
can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing  this. 

All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  in 
dividuals  are  so  plainly  assured  to  them  by  af 
firmations  and  negations,  guarantees  and  prohibi 
tions,  in  the  Constitution,  that  controversies  never 
arise  concerning  them.  But  no  organic  law  can 
ever  be  framed  with  a  provision  specifically  applic 
able  to  every  question  which  may  occur  in  prac 
tical  administration.  No  foresight  can  anticipate, 
nor  any  document  of  reasonable  length  contain,  ex 
press  provision  for  all  possible  questions. 

Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered  by 
National  or  by  State  authority?  The  Constitu 
tion  does  not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress  pro 
tect  slavery  in  the  Territories?  The  Constitution 
does  not  expressly  say. 

From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all  our  con 
stitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide  upon  them 
into  majorities  and  minorities.  If  the  minority  will 
not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must,  or  the  govern 
ment  must  cease.  There  is  no  alternative  for  con- 


374  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

tinuing  the  government  but  acquiescence  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other. 

If  the  minority  will  secede  rather  than  acqui 
esce,  they  make  a  precedent  which,  in  turn,  will 
ruin  and  divide  them;  for  a  minority  of  their  own 
will  secede  from  them  whenever  a  majority  re 
fuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  a  minority.  For 
instance,  why  should  not  any  portion  of  a  new  con 
federacy,  a  year  or  two  hence,  arbitrarily  secede 
again,  precisely  as  portions  of  the  present  Union 
now  claim  to  secede  from  it? 

All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now 
being  educated  to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this. 
Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interest  among  the 
States  to  compose  a  new  union  as  to  produce  har 
mony  only,  and  prevent  renewed  secession? 
Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence 
of  anarchy. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate;  we 
cannot  move  our  respective  sections  from  each 
other,  nor  build  an  impassable  wall  between  them. 
A  husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out 
of  the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other ; 
but  the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do 
this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face;  and 
intercourse,  either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  con 
tinue  between  them. 

Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that  intercourse 
more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory  after 
separation  than  before?  Suppose  you  go  to  war, 
you  cannot  fight  always;  and  when,  after  much 
loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS       375 

cease  fighting,  the  identical  questions  as  to  terms 
of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you. 

Why  should  there  not  be  patient  confidence  in 
the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people?  Is  there  any 
better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?  In  our  present 
differences  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being 
in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  nations 
with  His  eternal  truth  and  justice  be  on  your  side 
of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth 
and  that  justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judg 
ment  of  this  great  tribunal  of  the  American  people. 

By  the  frame  of  government  under  which  we 
live,  this  same  people  have  wisely  given  their  pub 
lic  servants  but  little  power  for  mischief,  and  have 
with  equal  wisdom  provided  for  the  return  of  that 
little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short  intervals. 
While  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance, 
no  administration,  by  any  extreme  of  wickedness  or 
folly,  can  very  seriously  injure  the  Government  in 
the  short  space  of  four  years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and 
well  upon  the  whole  subject  —  nothing  valuable 
can  be  lost  by  taking  time.  If  there  be  an  object 
to  hurry  any  of  you,  in  hot  haste,  to  a  step  which 
you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that  object  will 
be  frustrated  by  taking  time,  but  no  good  object 
can  be  frustrated  by  it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now 
dissatisfied  still  have  the  old  Constitution  unim 
paired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the  laws  of 
your  own  framing  under  it ;  while  the  new  ad 
ministration  will  have  no  immediate  power  if  it 
wanted  to  change  either.  If  it  were  admitted 


376  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right  side 
in  the  dispute,  there  still  is  no  single  good  reason 
for  precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism, 
Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has 
never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  com 
petent  to  adjust  in  the  best  way  all  our  present 
difficulties. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  countrymen,  and 
not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war. 
The  Government  will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have 
no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors. 
You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy 
the  government,  while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn 
one  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it. 

I  am  about  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas 
sion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds 
of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory, 
stretching  from  every  battle  field  and  patriot  grave, 
to  every  loving  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this 
broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the 
better  angels  of  our  nature. 


LETTER  TO  HORACE  GREELEY 

The  Administration,  during  the  early  months  of  the 
war  for  the  Union,  was  greatly  perplexed  as  to  the 
proper  mode  of  dealing  with  slavery,  especially  in 
the  districts  occupied  by  the  Union  forces.  In  the 


LETTER  TO  GREELEY  377 

summer  of  1862,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  earnestly  con 
templating  his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  Horace 
Greeley,  the  leading  Republican  editor,  published  in 
his  paper,  the  New  York  Tribune,  a  severe  article  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the  President,  taking 
him  to  task  for  failing  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of 
twenty  millions  of  loyal  people.  Thereupon  Mr.  Lin 
coln  sent  him  the  following  letter: — 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON, 

AUGUST  22,  1862. 
HON.  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  igth, 
addressed  to  myself  through  the  New  York 
Tribune.  If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  as 
sumptions  of  fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erron 
eous,  I  do  not  now  and  here  controvert  them.  If 
there  be  in  it  any  inferences  which  I  may  believe  to 
be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not  now  and  here  argue 
against  them.  If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  im 
patient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference 
to  an  old  friend,  whose  heart  I  have  always  sup 
posed  to  be  right.  As  to  the  policy  I  "  seem  to  be 
pursuing,"  as  you  say,  I  have  not  meant  to  leave 
any  one  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  in  the 
shortest  way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner 
the  National  authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer 
the  Union  will  be  "  The  Union  as  it  was."  If 
there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  un 
less  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery, 
I  do  not  agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object 
in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the  Union  and  is  not 


378  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

either  to  save  or  destroy  Slavery.  If  I  could  save 
the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do 
it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves, 
I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some 
and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that. 
What  I  do  about  Slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I 
do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  this  Union; 
and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  be 
lieve  it.  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do 
less,  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am  doing 
hurts  the  cause;  and  I  shall  do  more,  whenever  I 
shall  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause.  I 
shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors ; 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall 
appear  to  be  true  views.  I  have  here  stated  my 
purpose  according  to  my  view  of  official  duty,  and 
I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft-expressed  per 
sonal  wish  that  all  men,  everywhere,  could  be  free. 

Yours, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 
(Issued  January  I,  1863) 

Now  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested 
in  me  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  in  a  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against 
the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  as  1  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  sup- 


EMANCIPATION  379 

pressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance 
with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed  for 
the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  date 
of  the  first  above-mentioned  order,  designate  as 
the  States  and  parts  of  States  therein  the  people 
whereof,  respectively,  are  this  day  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  the  following,  to  wit: 
Arkansas,  Texas  and  Louisiana  (except  the 
parishes  of  St.  Bernard,  Plaquemines,  Jefferson, 
St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascension,  As 
sumption,  Terrebonne,  La  Fourche,  St.  Mary,  St. 
Martin  and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New 
Orleans),  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia, 
South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia  (ex 
cept  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West 
Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkley.  Ac- 
comae,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Prin 
cess  Anne,  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of  Nor 
folk  and  Portsmouth),  which  excepted  parts  are  for 
the  present  left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation 
were  not  issued;  and  by  virtue  of  the  power  and 
for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare 
that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  designated 
States,  or  parts  of  States,  are,  and  henceforward 
shall  be  free,  and  that  the  Executive  Government 
of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and 
naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and  main 
tain  the  freedom  of  the  said  persons ;  and  I  hereby 
enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  free  to  abstain 
from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self-defense; 


380  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

and  I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all  cases  when 
allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 
And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such 
persons,  of  suitable  condition,  will  be  received  into 
the  armed  service  of  the  United  States,  to  garrison 
forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other  places,  and  to 
man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an 
act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon 
military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judg 
ment  of  mankind,  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Al 
mighty  God. 


THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATION 
(Issued  October  3,  1863) 

The  year  that  is  drawing  toward  its  close  has 
been  filled  with  the  blessings  of  fruitful  fields  and 
healthful  skies.  To  these  bounties,  which  are  so 
constantly  enjoyed  that  wre  are  prone  to  forget 
the  source  from  which  they  come,  others  have  been 
added,  which  are  of  so  extraordinary  a  nature  that 
they  cannot  fail  to  penetrate  and  soften  even  the 
heart  which  is  habitually  insensible  to  the  ever- 
watchful  Providence  of  Almighty  God. 

In  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  of  unequaled  mag 
nitude  and  severity,  which  has  sometimes  seemed 
to  invite  and  provoke  the  aggression  of  foreign 
states,  peace  has  been  preserved  with  all  nations, 
order  has  been  maintained,  the  laws  have  been 


THANKSGIVING  381 

respected  and  obeyed,  and  harmony  has  prevailed 
everywhere,  except  in  the  theater  of  military 
conflict. 

The  needful  diversion  of  wealth  and  strength 
from  the  fields  of  peaceful  industry  to  the  national 
defense  has  not  arrested  the  plow,  the  shuttle,  or 
the  ship. 

The  ax  has  enlarged  the  borders  of  our  settle 
ments,  and  the  mines,  as  well  of  iron  and  coal  as 
of  the  precious  metals,  have  yielded  even  more 
abundantly  than  heretofore.  Population  has  stead 
ily  increased,  notwithstanding  the  waste  that  has 
been  made  by  the  camp,  the  siege,  and  the  battle 
field,  and  the  country,  rejoicing  in  the  conscious 
ness  of  augmented  strength  and  vigor,  is  per 
mitted  to  expect  continuance  of  years  with  large 
increase  of  freedom. 

No  human  council  hath  devised,  nor  hath  any 
mortal  hand  worked  out,  these  great  things. 
They  are  the  gracious  gifts  of  the  Most  High  God, 
who,  while  dealing  with  us  in  anger  for  our  sins, 
hath  nevertheless  remembered  mercy. 

It  seemed  to  me  fit  and  proper  that  they  should 
be  solemnly,  reverentially,  and  gratefully  acknowl 
edged  as  with  one  heart  and  voice,  by  the  whole 
American  people. 

I  recommend  too,  that,  while  offering  up  the 
ascriptions  justly  due  to  Him  for  such  singular 
deliverances  and  blessings,  they  do  also,  with 
humble  penitence  for  our  national  perverseness  and 
disobedience,  commend  to  His  tender  care  all  those 
who  have  become  widows,  orphans,  mourners,  or 


382  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

sufferers  in  the  lamentable  civil  strife  in  which  we 
are  unavoidably  engaged,  and  fervently  implore  the 
interposition  of  the  Almighty  hand  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  nation,  and  to  restore  it,  as  soon  as 
may  be  consistent  with  divine  purposes,  to  the  full 
enjoyment  of  peace,  harmony,  tranquillity,  and 
union. 


ADDRESS  ON  THE  BATTLEFIELD  OF 
GETTYSBURG 

(At  the  Dedication   of   the   Cemetery,  November 
19,  1863) 

Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  con 
ceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition 
that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  test 
ing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con 
ceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We 
are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We 
have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a 
final  resting  place  for  those  who  here  gave  their 
lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether 
fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  — 
we  cannot  consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow  —  this 
ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it,  far  above  our 
poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 


REMARKS  TO  NEGROES  383 

little  note,  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here, 
but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is 
for  us  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us 
to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining 
before  us  —  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they 
gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion  —  that  we 
here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have 
died  in  vain  —  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  —  and  that  govern 
ment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people, 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 


REMARKS  TO  NEGROES  IN  THE  STREETS 
OF  RICHMOND 

The  President  walked  through  the  streets  of  Rich 
mond  —  without  a  guard  except  a  few  seamen  —  in 
company  with  his  son  "  Tad,"  and  Admiral  Porter, 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1865,  the  day  following  the  evacu 
ation  of  the  city.  Colored  people  gathered  about  him 
on  every  side,  eager  to  see  and  thank  their  liberator. 
Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  the  following  remarks  to  one 
of  these  gatherings: 

My  poor  friends,  you  are  free  —  free  as  air. 
You  can  cast  off  the  name  of  slave  and  trample 
upon  it;  it  will  come  to  you  no  more.  Liberty  is 
your  birthright.  God  gave  it  to  you  as  he  gave  it 


384  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

to  others,  and  it  is  a  sin  that  you  have  been  de 
prived  of  it  for  so  many  years. 

But  you  must  try  to  deserve  this  priceless  boon. 
Let  the  world  see  that  you  merit  it,  and  are  able 
to  maintain  it  by  your  good  works.  Don't  let  your 
joy  carry  you  into  excesses;  learn  the  laws,  and 
obey  them.  Obey  God's  commandments,  and 
thank  Him  for  giving  you  liberty,  for  to  Him  you 
owe  all  things.  There,  now,  let  me  pass  on;  I 
have  but  little  time  to  spare.  I  want  to  see  the 
Capitol,  and  must  return  at  once  to  Washington 
to  secure  to  you  that  liberty  which  you  seem  to 
prize  so  highly. 


SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 
MARCH  4,  1865 

Fellow-countrymen:  At  this  second  appearing 
to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there 
is  less  occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there 
was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement,  somewhat  in 
detail,  of  a  course  to  be  pursued  seemed  fitting  and 
proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years, 
during  which  public  declarations  have  been  con 
stantly  called  forth  on  every  point  and  phase  of 
the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  attention 
and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation,  little  that 
is  new  could  be  presented. 

The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else 
chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as 


SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS     385 

to  myself,  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the 
future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four  years 
ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an 
impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded  it;  all  sought 
to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural  address  was  be 
ing  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  altogether 
to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgents' 
agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  with 
out  war  —  seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union  and  divide 
its  effects  by  negotiation. 

Both  parties  deprecated  war ;  but  one  of  them 
would  make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive, 
and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it 
perish.  And  the  war  came. 

The  prayer  of  both  could  not  be  answered  — 
those  of  neither  have  been  answered  fully.  The 
Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  "  Woe  unto  the 
world  because  of  offenses !  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
offenses  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the 
offense  cometh." 

If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is 
one  of  those  offenses  which,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  re 
move,  and  that  He  gives  to  North  and  South  this 
terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  of 
fense  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure 
from  those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in 
a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him? 

Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that 


386  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  soon  pass  away. 

Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash  shall 
be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was 
said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be 
said,  "  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ;  to  care  for 
hirn  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  for  his  orphan ;  to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among 
ourselves,  and  with  all  nations. 


THE  END. 


A   SCHOOL,  AND  FAMILY  SERIES 
OF  GREAT  VALUE 

OUR 

American  Holidays 

EDITED    BY 

ROBERT  HAVEN  SCHAUFFLER 


BEADY 

THANKSGIVING  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHDAY 

CHRISTMAS  MEMORIAL  DAY 

IN   PREPARATION 

WASHINGTON'S  BIRTHDAY          EASTER 
AKBOR  DAY  FLAG  DAY 

FOURTH  OF  JULY  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY 

A  SERIES  of  Anthologies  upon  American  Holi 
days,  each  volume  a  collection  of  writings  from 
many  sources,  historical,  poetic,  religious,  pa 
triotic,  etc.,  presenting  each  American  festival  as  seen 
through  the  eyes  of  the  many  and  varying  repre 
sentative  writers.  The  publishers  are  satisfied  that 
nothing  essential  to  the  complete  appreciation  of  the 
historical  and  spiritual  meaning  of  each  holiday  has 
been  omitted,  and  that  these  are  necessary  volumes  in 
every  public  school  and  home  library,  as  desirable  for 
adult  reading  as  for  the  entertainment  and  instruction 
of  young  people.  Of  course,  for  supplementary  read 
ing  and  other  educational  purposes,  they  are  invalua 
ble.  Each  volume  is  accompanied  by  an  illuminating 
historical  introduction. 

For  Sale  by  all  Booksellers.  12mo.  $1.0O  net 


PUBLISHED  BY 

MOFFAT,   YARD   &   COMPANY 

31  EAST  SEVENTEENTH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 


OUR  AMERICAN  HOLIDAYS 


THANKSGIVING 

"Admirably  adapted  for  home  aud  school  reading." 
— Richmond  Times-Dispatch. 

"Mr.  Schauffler,  in  an  altogether  skillful  and  charm 
ing  way,  has  here  selected  and  grouped  together,  from 
a  large  number  of  our  best-known  writers,  reminiscent 
sketches,  descriptions,  in  story  and  verse,  which,  taken 
together,  illuminate  with  remarkable  felicity  and  viv 
idness  the  day  which  the  American  home  most  delights 
to  observe." — Chicago  Tribune. 

"The  idea  is  capital,  and  has  been  admirably  carried 
out.  Mr.  Schauffler  has  collected  excellent  material 
that  will  be  of  great  value  to  teachers  in  presenting 
to  their  classes  the  true  significance  of  the  day." — 
School  Journal, 

CHRISTMAS 

"This  volume  is  a  complete  library  on  Christmas  and 
its  proper  spirit  and  observance." — The  State. 

"A  good  selection,  indicating  wide  and  careful  read 
ing." — Interior. 

"The  author  adds  an  interesting  introduction  tra 
cing  the  development  of  the  Christian  from  the  pagan 
festival.  In  a  condensed  way  it  presents  some  of  the 
finest  literature  of  Christmas,  and  is  admirably 
adapted  to  home  and  school  reading." — Chicago  Daily 
News. 

"It  is  a  book  for  all  the  year  round,  for  old  and 
young," — Christian  Observer. 

"Contains  the  best  prose  and  verse  selections  in  our 
language  relating  to  the  home  festival  of  Christmas. 
It  is  admirably  adapted  to  home  and  school  reading." 
— Cleveland  Leader. 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


